The Raheem Morris era has ended, and Kevin Stefanski arrives from the Browns as the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta will look to improve on last year’s 8-9 season. Tommy Rees joins Stefanski as offensive coordinator. Michael Penix Jr. returns at quarterback, where he will compete with former Dolphin Tua Tagovailoa. Bijan Robinson leads the running back room again. The Falcons brought in Brian Robinson from the 49ers to give the Falcons a 1-2 Robinson/Robinson lawyer firm punch. Atlanta returns its top three receivers from a year ago: Kyle Pitts, Bijan Robinson, and Drake London. The Falcons upgraded their receiver room with Jahan Dotson coming over from Philadelphia and Olamide Zaccheaus coming over from Chicago. The offensive line returns four starters from a year ago: Matthew Bergeron, Ryan Neuzil, Chris Lindstrom, and iron man Jake Matthews, who has started every game for the last five years. Jawaan Taylor rounds out the offensive line after he was acquired from the Chiefs.
Jeff Ulbrich is back in his second season as defensive coordinator. Atlanta returns Zach Harrison, Brandon Dorlus, LaCale London, and Divine Deablo in the front seven, and adds Da’Shawn Hand from the Chargers, Gervon Dexter from the Bears, and Maason Smith from the Jaguars. It will be tough to replace the production of departed Kaden Elliss, and the loss of Jalon Walker to an ACL injury and the eight-game suspension of James Pearce Jr. for violating the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy can’t help. The Falcons return Mike Hughes, AJ Terrell, Jessie Bates, and Xavier Watts in the secondary.
Craig Aukerman takes over as special teams coordinator with fresh faces across the board. The Falcons brought in reliable veteran Nick Folk to handle the placekicking duties after he connected on 97% of his field goals for the Jets last year. Former Dolphin Jake Bailey takes over as punter. Georgia rookie Zachariah Branch, Brian Robinson, and Olamide Zaccheaus will factor into the return game. The NFC South should be a traffic jam right up until the last game of the season, where one win here or one loss there could determine a playoff trip or a trip to Cancun. With that backdrop, Falcons fans are excited for the future under Stefanski and eager to see how their quarterback situation pans out.