FLOWERY BRANCH — In a different world, had a few breaks not fallen, a few opportunities not opened, Craig Aukerman is a third grade social studies teacher gearing up for another year in the classroom.

Instead, he’s preparing for his 17th season as an NFL coach and his first as the Falcons’ special teams coordinator. He never used the elementary education degree he earned at the University of Findlay (Ohio), but teaching, Aukerman says, is the driving force behind his plan to resurrect the Falcons’ special teams after a dismal 2025 campaign.

“I learned this when I was real young in age: I really need to go and teach these guys, be clear, clean, concise and very direct with the players,” Aukerman said this spring. “That’s kind of my coaching philosophy. I want to make sure the objective is very clear to them, everything is going to be clean.

“And then also be direct. Ask them direct questions to see if I know that they know what the answer is, and, more importantly, does their teammate feel confident when a certain player will answer a question correctly?”

The Falcons struggled mightily on special teams last season under the guidance of coordinator Marquice Williams, who earned his first NFL job under Aukerman in 2016 with the Chargers.

There was Younghoe Koo’s missed field goal — which would’ve tied the game — at the end of a Week 1 loss to the Buccaneers. There was Parker Romo’s costly missed extra point in a 24-23 loss against the Patriots. There was a collective failure across the board in a 13-8 loss at the lowly New York Jets.

All told, the Falcons went through three kickers, finished 29th in the NFL in special teams EPA (expected points added), allowed a league-worst 30 yards per opposing kickoff returns and, on the flip side, averaged a league-worst 22.85 yards on their own kickoff returns.

When Aukerman arrived this spring, he didn’t diagnose the issues as a broad collective. He went microscopic. He put together an individual development plan for every player on the roster, focusing on their strengths, weaknesses and an area of focus where he feels he can get them better, be it fundamentals or elsewhere.

This process is where Aukerman’s teaching degree comes in handy. It’s detailed, thorough and the groundwork behind what the Falcons anticipate being a significant step forward from last year’s special teams group.

“That’s the plan — getting these guys in, really focusing on what they can do and what they can’t,” Aukerman said. “I’ve got to really study it and understand what these guys can do. Good coaching is taking a player where he’s not capable of taking himself. Bad coaching is asking a player to do something that he’s physically not capable of doing and that’s a part of matchups.

“I want to make sure every player is going to be confident going out there, understanding what he has to do. And then his matchup: Does he feel like he can match up to that player and win that down? That’s the most important thing.”

Here’s the group Aukerman will coach — and the biggest questions facing the Falcons’ special teams before players arrive for training camp Tuesday in Flowery Branch.

Depth chart

Kicker: Nick Folk

Punter: Jake Bailey

Long snapper: Liam McCullough

Backups: P Matthew Hayball (International Player Pathway program), LS Philip Florenzo

Notable departures

• K Zane Gonzalez (free agent, signed with Dolphins)
• P Bradley Pinion (free agent, signed with Dolphins)

Biggest questions

Can Folk keep his accuracy rolling?

The Falcons had a logical, straightforward game plan to solve their kicking woes from last season: sign the NFL’s most accurate kicker.

Nick Folk, the 41-year-old whose rookie season came in 2007, has led the league in field goal percentage each of the past three years and hasn’t finished below 95.5% since 2022. Folk is 78-of-81 on field goals and 75-of-77 on extra points in that time.

And while Folk won’t challenge the Cowboys’ Brandon Aubrey, Jaguars’ Cam Little or any of the other big-legged kickers around the league, he nailed a 58-yard field goal last season with the Jets, a nod to the leg strength he still possesses. He’s been accurate from distance, too, going 18-of-20 from 50-plus yards dating back to the 2023 season.

Though it wasn’t necessarily a career resurrection, Folk elevated his game in 2023, when he played under Aukerman with the Titans. Now, they’re together again, and the Falcons hope his incredible run of accuracy carries through the entirety of his two-year contract.

Who wins the return jobs?

If OTAs and mandatory minicamp were any indication, third-round rookie receiver Zachariah Branch has the inside track on being the Falcons’ punt returner and one of two starting kick returners, perhaps alongside veteran receiver Olamide Zaccheaus.

“I think I’m doing kick return,” Branch said during minicamp. “I’ve been taking a couple reps and stuff like that just to get a chance to help the team as best as possible. I feel like I’m a playmaker, so whenever I get the ball in my hands, if they want me to do kick return, punt return, receiver, whatever it is, I’m willing to do it just to make our team as successful as possible, and I’ve been loving every aspect of it.”

The Falcons have other options, too. Receiver Jahan Dotson returned five punts last season with the Eagles. Undrafted rookie wideout Vinny Anthony II and United Football League signee Juice Wells each have extensive return experience, while running back Tyler Goodson returned 11 kickoffs the last two years with the Colts.

Natrone Brooks, who returned 15 kickoffs for 288 yards last season, is back with the Falcons. So is Dylan Drummond, who collected 110 yards on four kickoff returns in 2025.

Aukerman has no shortage of options for the return role, though Branch, who was an All-American return specialist in 2023 as a freshman at USC, appears the clear favorite.

Aukerman had a strong 2025 with Dolphins — can he elevate the Falcons to a similar level?

Aukerman led a strong Dolphins special teams unit and was only available because Miami started fresh throughout its organization. The Dolphins finished seventh in the league in EPA, some 53.4 points better than the Falcons.

Two years prior, as the wheels fell off Mike Vrabel’s final Titans team, Aukerman was fired in December after his unit missed an extra point and allowed two blocked punts in an overtime loss.

It was an unceremonious end to a six-year tenure, and Aukerman’s collective track record suggests he’ll bring a steady presence to the Falcons’ special teams room. That, after all, is why head coach Kevin Stefanski hired him.