A two-time Coach of the Year who was barely out of work a fortnight before Atlanta hired him.
The résumé. Named Atlanta's 20th head coach on 17 January, on a five-year deal, succeeding Raheem Morris. He arrives with two AP Coach of the Year awards, from 2020 and 2023, and six seasons in charge of the Browns. Before Cleveland came fourteen years in Minnesota, where he climbed from assistant through a succession of offensive coaching roles to offensive coordinator. He played safety at Penn. Unusually, he now reports to a president of football who spent fourteen years as Atlanta's quarterback: Matt Ryan.
The record. Both halves of Cleveland matter. 2020 delivered the Browns' first playoff berth since 2002 and first playoff win since 1994, off 11-5. 2023 produced another playoff trip at 11-6 and a second Coach of the Year award, achieved while cycling through most of a quarterback room. Then it collapsed: 8-26 across his final two seasons, and the sack in January. His overall head-coaching record is 45-56, and 1-2 in the playoffs.
That is the case both ways, and Atlanta has been explicit about which reading it prefers: a coach who has twice built a functional winner out of unsettled quarterback play, hired by a club whose quarterback play is unsettled.
The scheme. Not the modern spread. Expect plenty of heavy personnel and two-tight-end formations, quarterback under centre, deep play-action and a screen game built for yards after catch. Tommy Rees is coordinator and play-caller, with Alex Van Pelt on quarterbacks and Bill Callahan on the offensive line; Jeff Ulbrich stays as defensive coordinator. The personnel fits suspiciously well: Kyle Pitts Sr., Austin Hooper and Charlie Woerner give him the tight ends, Bijan Robinson and Drake London the yards.
2026. The quarterback competition has been shaped as much by the treatment table as by performance. Michael Penix Jr., working back from a torn ACL, has now been cleared for full eleven-on-eleven work, with no decision yet on whether he features again before the season. Tua Tagovailoa started the preseason opener, with Cooper Rush and Jack Strand behind him. The tie-breaker may be schematic rather than medical: an offense built on timing and short-to-intermediate precision suits Tagovailoa exactly, where Penix's value is the deep ball. Beyond that the constraints are real: 8-9 last year, an eighth straight season without the playoffs, 24th in free-agent spending, and no first-round pick.
Sources: AtlantaFalcons.com, ESPN, SI.com, Pro Football Reference. Figures as of Aug 2026.
Printed in Issue 3 of The Grid and released free on 11 September 2026. The text is as it appeared in the magazine, lightly edited for the web.