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As new Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith begins to rally his staff, he’s bound to bring in his own guys to fill various assistant positions.
On Wednesday, we learned that some of Dan Quinn’s staff assistants will not stay on Smith’s coaching roster, including big names like offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter and offensive line coach Chris Morgan.
Falcons coach Arthur Smith let OL manager Chris Morgan go today, I’m told. Morgan was originally brought to Atlanta by Kyle Shanahan – so it’s an interesting name with this plan popping up everywhere.
– Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 20, 2021
D. Orlando Ledbetter of AJC also notes that assistant defensive coach Aden Durde will join Quinn in Atlanta to coach the Dallas defensive line.
Obviously, hiring Smith meant the handwriting was on the wall for Koetter, and his retention has always been incredibly lucky. Morgan, however, is notable as he has been with the squad since 2015 and was one of the only survivors of Kyle Shanahan’s original staff, ultimately working with three offensive coordinators. He did a really good job in his early years but the overall thing has diminished a bit from 2018. Matt Ryan has taken too many hits lately, and the running game hasn’t been consistently boosted by performance. of OL. Scheme plays a big role in that regard, and fans have been clamoring for a change for a few years now. Morgan’s experience and familiarity with Shanahan means he won’t be looking for work for long.
The Falcons’ offensive line is very promising, with Jake Matthews continuing to play at a high level and young talent emerging in Chris Lindstrom, Kaleb McGary and Matt Hennessy. But Smith definitely has his own guys he wants to staff his offensive line with as he begins to train his group of assistant coaches.
Beware of Titans offensive line assistant coach Mike Sullivan for the OL vacancy. He and Smith have been together in Tennessee since 2014 (early in Ken Whisenhunt’s brief stint with the team), and Sullivan has extensive experience as an offensive lines coach in the NFL.
He’s been Smith’s offensive line assistant coach with the Titans since 2019 and held the same role from 2014 to 2017. He was an offensive assistant in 2018. It’s entirely possible that the Titans will leave the former assistant. Atlanta’s Keith Carter jump with Smith, but that’s not as likely as Sullivan given his success in Tennessee as that unit’s coach. However, another potential hire that we are not yet aware of is surely also in the mix.
In addition to the names above, Raheem Morris is expected to land with the Rams and possibly take defensive analysts Bob Sutton with him, while Jeff Ulbrich is expected to head to the Jets with new head coach Robert Saleh. Only special teams coordinator Bernie Parmalee has a realistic chance of staying at coordinator level after doing a good job taking over from Ben Kotwica last year, while assistants like defensive backs coach Doug Mallory and wide receivers coach Dave Brock may or may not be back as well.
Who will Smith hire for his offensive team? Lots of hires remain, and it’s always refreshing to have new perspectives with the way our attack is trained. They are certainly necessary.
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