Falcons Hire Kyle Shanahan to Run Offense

It appears the Atlanta Falcons have bought the cart before the horse in an effort to guarantee the team will remain an offensive juggernaut in 2015.

ProFootballTalk.com is reporting that the Falcons have apparently settled on former Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator to fill the same role in Atlanta. Shanahan left the Browns this month after conflicts with management over the direction of the team.

Mike Florio said in the story online, this move typically reserved for the more dysfunctional franchises in the NFL, the Atlanta Falcons have hired an offensive coordinator before hiring a head coach.  But the Falcons are doing it only because they can’t hire the head coach they’ll be hiring for two more weeks.

If that is the case, then Dan Quinn, Seattle’s defensive coordinator is the man they have chosen.

Shanahan was the offensive coordinator under his father, Mike Shanahan in Washington where he worked with Robert Griffin III before moving on to Cleveland where he worked with Johnny Manziel. Neither of the stars and former Heisman Trophy winners have lived up to the hype of their college playing days. Now Shanahan moves on to Atlanta where the play of Matt Ryan this past year, along with the receiving corps of Julio Jones, Roddy White and Harry Douglas, may be one of the best in the NFL.

Quinn will interview a second time for the job on Monday.  But it’s apparently a formality at this point; in two weeks or so, Quinn will be the team’s next head coach.

The team also interviewed Detroit defensive coordinator Teryl Austin twice, but team officials are leaning toward the man who helped the Seahawks reach the Super Bowl the past two seasons.

Shanahan is a joystick coach, according to Florio, who wants his quarterback to run the offense in a precise, specific way.  Ryan, 10-22 the past two years, presumably will be willing to learn Shanahan’s offense and implement it the way Shanahan wants it to be implemented.