Like many coaches who were brought on the Arizona Cardinals’ staff in 2023, it was the first year in the NFL for cornerbacks coach Ryan Smith.
He started 22 games at cornerback while at William & Mary from 2010-2013 and then started his coaching journey, first as a defensive graduate assistant at Texas-San Antonio in 2014 and then Penn State for two years through 2016 where also earned his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership.
That was followed by two years at Elon as secondary coach, one year coaching safeties at James Madison, two years at Virginia Tech as cornerbacks coach including the second season also as defensive pass game specialist and then cornerbacks coach at Northwestern.
The 34-year-old Smith meshes well with a young team of players and coaches. He talked to the local media Friday after practice.
Q: The cornerbacks are a young group. How do you see them midway through the season, especially a guy like Max Melton?
A: All those guys in the room I think are continuing to ascend and we talk all the time in the corner room about continuing to develop so we can play our best ball in January, February. It’s really just locking in on the details of our fundamentals, our technique. Like this week, Max, his emphasis was how he’s playing inside releases. That’s something that we wanted to improve on. So, he’s come out 10 minutes before (practice) working on his craft. It’s being able to evaluate after each game, each practice; identify the skill sets and the things that you want to continue to improve on and being locked in and diligent and improving those techniques so that we can continue to improve. And I think across the board in the corner room, that’s kind of been the emphasis on a week-in, week-out basis so that we can step up to the challenge of the week.
(Behind where the interview was taking place, several defensive backs were working extra time after practice had concluded.)
Q: You mentioned coming out early. Is that an example of the guys just being out there, putting in additional work?
A: Yeah, I mean you’ll see them staying out late. A lot of times when they stay out late, they’re working on maybe something that happened at practice or just working on catching balls from the Jugs (machine) or just throwing each other routes — things like that. And what I’ll say about the group, from the young corners to SMB (Sean Murphy-Bunting), the veteran guys to the safeties, they all got the mindset of growth and getting better. So it’s been cool to see and be around.
Q: Is there a certain lesson learned, especially from Max when it comes to NFL receivers, NFL offenses, NFL quarterbacks? Is there something this first half-season you think he’s improved or just realized the most?
A: Being a rookie and getting thrown in the fire because he’s played a significant amount every game and every week looks different. Every week there’s a different game plan. You’ve got to erase the previous week and learn the techniques in the way the scheme that we’re going to impart on the next opponent and I think Max has done a really good job being a student of the game and learning and getting better in that aspect. But definitely the NFL game plan and how that’s structured and the things that you got to prepare for, it’s something that he’s been able to grow with and get better with week-in and week-out.
Q: What is it about his personality, his persona that allows him to be an NFL corner and have that type of swagger?
A: He’s confident. Yeah, I think that’s one of the key traits. Besides being able to run fast, you better be confident because as you can see, week-in, week-out offenses are throwing for 300, 400 yards all across the NFL. You turn on the game and you see it. And just the way that the game is structured, we always talk in the corner room: It’s designed for us not to win. It’s an offensive game. So, we’ve got to combat that with our technique, our fundamentals, and things of that nature. So for him, I’ll say confidence is the No. 1 thing and I think Max is a guy that’s confident. He’s never too high, never too low. Even if there’s a good series or bad series, he’s the same guy on the sideline. He’s the same guy on Monday in meetings. He’s the same guy on Thursday for meetings and at practice. And to be able to be steady is important for the corner position.
Q: I feel he was good at the start of the year and then the Chargers game was difficult for him. Was that key, kind of coming off of that week?
A: Yeah. And there were some good moments in the Chargers game, there’s some moments that he wanted to have back. There were some correctable things, some learning lessons in that game and you saw on the short week. He was able to bounce back and now start a game against Miami against arguably some of the best receivers in the NFL and he didn’t bat an eye, which was cool for me to see as a coach for a rookie to come in and that next Wednesday, when we reported back for practice, he was locked and ready to go. Same look in his eye. So I think that’s a big reason why he’ll continue to ascend.
Q: Have you seen that a lot also from Star (Thomas V), who’s been here 14 months after coming in after waivers, talking about that development and the growth that he’s shown?
A: Oh yeah. I think you can see that, the confidence from Star. If you go back to Seattle, the away game at Seattle 2023 was his first really big moment for us and that’s the first game he started. He had a couple of good contested throws on Tyler Lockett and then some of the other targets he was right on. Star’s a guy that’s the same way. He is like this: he’s never too high. He’s never too low, he doesn’t ride the flows. He’s consistent, he plays one play at a time. Whether good or bad, he forgets about the previous play. He learns from it, but then emotionally he lets it go and he’s locked in for the next play. And I think it’s help having a guy like SMB, who is that way. And Star, who is that way. I think that helps a guy like Max to be able to see, “OK, I don’t need to panic. It’s just one play. I can move on to the next one.” And I’m really proud of that group for being able to do that.
Q: How do you evaluate Star? I feel like he’s a guy that we don’t talk as much about. How do you, when he’s played a ton of snaps this season, feel about his play?
A: I think he’s played really well. He’s held his own. I mean you turn on the tape after last week; I told him coming from that game how proud I was of him and how much confidence he should have coming out of that game. But again, last week is last week. We’re on to the next opponent. Chicago poses different challenges than Miami did. But a guy like Star, the big thing I was telling him was just consistency. Consistency. Consistency. You’re a guy that’s kind of battled the odds since you got to the NFL and the main thing that you can do to continue to ascend is keep being you, keep being consistent. And he works at it every single day and he maximizes five buckets, like JG (head coach Jonathan Gannon) says. Off the field is health, his mental, his preparation. And even though he’s a second-year guy; everybody calls him the old head because he’s an old soul. He seems like he’s been in the league for seven or eight years with the way he carries himself, the way he acts.
Q: You talk about the extra work that guys put in. JG told us the other day about Garrett (Williams) and sometimes he has to kind of dial him back for doing too much.
A: Yeah, yeah. You know Garrett’s a guy that he is going to prepare like a pro. Since he’s gotten here and I was, I don’t know if I’ve told you guys, even in the evaluation process when he was coming out of Syracuse, he was a guy that’s; he might have been preparing like a pro since he was in high school. He’s just, man, he’s so dialed in on what he has to do. He’s going to make the right decisions and the right choices and he’s continued to do that. He hasn’t let some success, some good plays change that. He’s been the same guy.
Q: I know you hope this for all the guys, but how special can he be considering he’s really had only a year now since he came back (from injury)?
A: If he locks into the details, he’ll continue to ascend. Wherever that takes him, I don’t know. We don’t know. But as long as he continues to be the guy that he is with the character he has, he’ll keep improving.
Q: You mentioned SMB. He’s obviously had a couple moments that I’m sure he’d like back, some other plays. How would you evaluate where his play has been this season?
A: I think from his perspective, yeah, there’s some plays he wants back, but he’s a guy that I think, I know for a fact, is going (hard) and he is putting in the extra time and the work to continue to improve his game as the season continues to go. And he’s a guy that we’re going to rely on. He’s a guy who knows the expectation. He knows where he’s at, where we’re at, and he knows that when he comes back, it’s time to go.
Q: Anything about these Bears receivers this week that’s unique, maybe that you’re seeing?
A: They’ve got some good talent over there. Obviously, it’s different from last week — just different skill sets. But all three of those guys (DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze) that they have starting for them all provide different challenges and are really good players. So, I’m excited to see our guys step up to the challenge and see the matchup on Sunday.
Q: The way Chicago’s game last week ended; when plays like that happen around the league are those teaching moments for your group or is that a situation where you guys don’t touch those at all?
A: Oh, definitely; very, very much. We take situations that happen obviously; JG has Situational Saturday. But we’ll have; I’ll look across the league at different DBs and different schemes, and different things that happen, and we’ll watch them throughout the week. I’ll intercut it in some of our film to be able to teach them, “Hey, this is either a good technique, bad technique. Good scheme, bad scheme, things that happen.” So they can learn from that because I think those guys are all hungry to learn and see what’s going on out there. How can they adjust their style, their game to get better and continue to ascend? So yeah, those plays are definitely teachable moments.
A: Back to SMB. In what ways have you seen that veteran leadership be on display?
A: What people don’t see is just how he is inside the building. In the meeting room. The leadership and just that football acumen, that he’s able to just impart on those young younger corners. It’s pretty cool to see and like I’ll be making a point in a meeting and then you know I’ll ask SMB what his thought is or if there’s something that he’s done before in Tennessee or in Tampa. He’s a guy that’s won the Super Bowl, you know? So he’s got a lot of knowledge and I think it’s my job to give him that platform to be able to talk about things that you know can help our team win.
Q: We talk a lot about how young this team is with players. It’s also a young coaching staff. What’s your overall feeling on that with the collaboration, the camaraderie, all that with a very young staff?
A: I think JG’s done a great job of putting the staff together. I don’t know the right word, but the one thing that JG looked at was capacity and character. And I think he hit on that with everybody. I know I really enjoy coming to work every day with the people I work with and I think we’ve all got the mindset of growth and serving the players and getting these guys better and ready to ascend.
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