There had been rumors that Will Smith was slated to join the New Orleans Saints coaching staff in some capacity. Sean Payton, in his victim impact statement, made those rumors explicit. Will Smith would have coached the D-Line, and 2016 would have been his first year.
Payton says he was hiring Will Smith to coach D-line when he was killed. “2016 would have been his first year.”
It’s unclear if Smith would have been the D-Line coach or an assistant. But considering the Saints were clearly in the market for a new main DL coach, there’s every reason to believe he would have had Ryan Nielsen’s job.