Smith is impressed by USC linebackers

While the NFL owners meeting was recently being held, Atlanta Falcons' head coach Mike Smith candidly spoke on a few topics, one of which being the drafting of Matt Ryan last year and the preparation that the organization took before making the decision as per the AJC. The other, was Smith's affection towards the linebackers from USC available in this years draft. One of the 'backers projected to be available at the Falcons' number 24 pick is Clay Matthews, who is projected to be drafted by the Falcons by various mock drafts and has time scheduled with Atlanta. Smith had positive things to say about the other LBs as well, saying "They are very impressive...There are four guys that are definitely going to have an opportunity to play in the NFL. It’s been well documented that there are going to be some guys that get drafted very early.” Smith also added that "there is one common theme that these guys have and that’s they enjoy playing the game of football...That’s very obvious when you watch those guys on tape. They play with a lot of intensity. They play with a lot of passion. They have different sizes. They run differently, but the one thing that they do is that they play, very, very hard.” The stars seem to be aligning for Clay Matthews to become a Falcon, though whoever Smith and the rest of the organization take with the first pick, you can be sure that they did their homework to pick the best fit for the team.