With the hire of Bob Sutton, the key spots on Falcons coach Dan Quinn’s coaching staff are filled.
Here are five things to know about the re-configured coaching staff, which saw Quinn, who’s set to move into his fifth season, replace all three coordinators:
1. Head coaches. There are three former NFL and three former college head coaches on the staff. Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, tight ends coach Mike Mularkey and assistant head coach/wide receiver Raheem Morris have all been head coaches in the NFL. Sutton was a head coach at Army. Koetter was also a head coach at Boise State and Arizona State. Running backs coach David Brock was a head coach at Delaware.
2. Offensive coordinators. Three members on the staff have been offensive coordinators in the NFL in Koetter, Mularkey and quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp.
3. Defensive coordinators. Quinn is set to call his own plays, but could bounce his game plans off former defensive signal-callers Sutton and Morris, who called the defense when he was the head coach at Tampa Bay.
4. Kronenberg back in coaching. Bob Kronenberg, who'd been working with the Falcons as a pro scout, was moved to the assistant offensive line position.
Kronenberg, 47, will be charged with helping offensive line coach Chris Morgan as they try to re-shaped the unit, which gave up 42 sacks last season.
Kronenberg, who played offensive line in the Canadian Football League, NFL Europe and the Arena Football League, has been with the Falcons for the past eight years after spending the previous seven with the AFL’s Georgia Force as assistant coach and defensive coordinator (2003-08).
Kronenberg, who played at St. Cloud State in Minnesota, went to NFL training camp with the Buccaneers in 1993 and Redskins in 1998.
5. Special Teams coach an upgrade? Ben Kotwica was with the Jets from 2007-13, as the coordinator only in 2013.
Kotwica has a decent track record in the annual special-teams rankings compiled by former Dallas Morning News columnist Rick Gosselin. In the rankings, the NFL’s 32 teams are ranked in the 22 categories and assigned points according to their standing for 1 (best) to 32 (worst).
In six seasons as a coordinator, Kotwica's units have finished in the top half of the league two of six years. His Washington units finished 17th last season.
In 2013, his Jets’ units were ranked ninth.
In Washington, Kotwica's units were ranked 30th in 2014, 13th in 2015, 17th in 2016 , 19th in 2017 and 17th in 2018.
The Falcons were ranked 19th last season.
