The Atlanta Falcons filled their head coaching vacancy with Kevin Stefanski Saturday evening. It's a big name hire, but New Orleans Saints fans shouldn't be concerned it'll stop the Falcons' bleeding, typically formed by self inflicted wounds.
Stefanski is a two-time Coach of the Year, and despite being fired by the Cleveland Browns, Stefanski bounced back with a new job just weeks later. Only John Harbaugh secured a job quicker than Stefanski. Despite those Coach of the Year seasons being his only winning season, there's clearly a positive opinion of him in coaching circles.
Kevin Stefanski won't help the Falcons biggest issue
The Falcons have a good amount of talent on their team. It sucks to say, but it’s true. They have Bijan Robinson and Drake London at running back and wide receiver. Kyle Pitts is a pending free agent, but the two sides coming to a deal before or during free agency isn’t far fetched. The talent is there on defense too, but the headliner in Atlanta is their offensive core. They’re missing two things: someone to maximize the talent and possibly a quarterback.
Getting strong play from Michael Penix Jr. is the key to unlocking this team. The Falcons have the pieces around the quarterback, but if you don't have the quarterback, it doesn't matter. It's on Stefanski to bring that out of Penix now.
Stefanski’s track record with young quarterbacks isn’t great. The Baker Mayfield partnership lasted two seasons. One was solid and the other not so much. The team quickly punted on Mayfield after that second year. There seemed to be a genuine disinterest in developing with Shedeur Sanders last year, and it was the defining aspect of , though Dillon Gabriel did get a significant amount of run. Patience with younger quarterbacks seems sparse, and development has been low.
In totality, how Stefanski operates with a young quarterback is a huge question mark. He’ll have to roll with Penix for at least a season. There isn’t much reason to be confident in the partnership panning out. The lack of confidence in that aspect makes it hard to view Stefanski as the answer for Atlanta.
On the surface, this feels like a good but not great hire. Stefanski comes to Atlanta with the accolades of a great coach. Things went wrong in Cleveland, and there's reason to think shortcomings are on the horizon in Atlanta as well.