With the new coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Smith, starting to put together his staff, he will bring his own guys into various assistant positions.
On Wednesday, we learned that some assistants from Dan Quinn staff will not be staying for Smith’s coaching staff, including big names such as offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter and offensive coach Chris Morgan.
Falcons coach Arthur Smith let Olympic coach Chris Morgan go today, I’m told. Morgan was initially brought to Atlanta by Kyle Shanahan – so he’s an interesting name with the scheme that appears everywhere.
– Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) 20 January 2021
D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC also notes that defensive assistant coach Aden Durde will join Quinn in Atlanta to coach Dallas’ defensive line.
Clearly, Smith’s hiring meant that the writing for Koetter was on the wall, and that he was retained was always an incredibly long shot. However, Morgan is notable because he has been with the team since 2015 and was one of the only investors in Kyle Shanahan’s original staff, eventually working with three attacking coordinators. He performed very well in his first few years, but the unit has generally slowed down a bit since 2018. Matt Ryan has scored too many hits, and the game has not yet been bolstered by the OL performance. The scheme plays a big role in it, and fans have been threatening to switch for several years now. Morgan’s experience and familiarity with Shanahan means he will not be looking for work for long.
The offensive line for the Hawks has a lot of promise: Jake Matthews plays at a high level and young, emerging talent in Chris Lindstrom, Caleb McGary and Matt Hennessy. But Smith definitely has his own guys he wants to man his attacking line with when he starts shaping his assistant coaching pool.
Look out for Titans assistant striker Mike Sullivan for the Olympic vacancy. He and Smith have been in Tennessee since 2014 (at the start of Ken Whisenhunt’s short stint with the team), and Sullivan has had an extensive offense in the NFL as a coach.
He has been Smith’s assistant attacking coach at the Titans since 2019 and has held the same role from 2014-’17. He was an offensive assistant in 2018. It’s quite possible that the Titans, former Atlanta assistant Keith Carter, could have sprung up with Smith, but that’s not as likely as Sullivan, as he was successful in coaching. of Tennessee. Although, another potential lease that we do not yet know about is also certainly in the mix.
In addition to the above names, Raheem Morris is expected to land with the Rams and possibly defensive analysts Bob Sutton, while Jeff Ulbrich is expected to go to the Jets with new head coach Robert Saleh. Only Bernie Parmalee, coordinator for special teams, has a realistic chance of holding on at coordinator level after taking over a good job from Ben Kotwica last year. back too.
Who will hire Smith for his offensive staff? There are still many rents, and it is always refreshing to gain new perspectives on the way our transgression is being coached. It is definitely necessary.