Falcons owner Arthur Blank followed the current trend around the NFL by giving Dan Quinn, the team’s new head coach, the final authority over the roster.
Quinn, 44, the former Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator, has never been a college or pro head coach.
The team announced a restructuring of the duties Jan. 7, with an eye toward following the trend. But Blank said the team could not discuss the restructuring with any clarity until Quinn was hired. The franchise could not discuss Quinn’s hiring until the Seahawks were out of the playoffs or they faced charges of tampering, under league rules.
Quinn signed a five-year contract with the team and will replace Mike Smith, the winningest coach in franchise history, who was fired Dec. 29.
“I’m so fired-up to be here,” Quinn said Tuesday at his introductory news conference.
The 20-year coaching veteran is part of the matrix atop the Falcons’ restructured front office that calls for him to report directly to Blank and not to general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
Quinn will be in charge of the 53-man roster, the 46-man game-day roster and the practice squad. Dimitroff will oversee assistant general manager Scott Pioli, who will be in charge of free agency and the draft.
Quinn was part-architect of the league’s top-ranked defense over the past two seasons that helped carry the Seahawks to two consecutive Super Bowls and one title.
“I can’t wait to bring a similar championship environment right here in Atlanta,” Quinn said.
He will be charged with teaching the defense how to play fast and physical.
“We are going to attack in every phase that we can do it,” Quinn said.
The Falcons’ defense finished ranked last (32nd) in the league in 2014. Quinn plans to bring the rugby-style tackling methods that the Seahawks have popularized.
“We are going to try to be the best fundamental team in football,” Quinn said. “That’s a real challenge. Tackling and our ability to go after the ball and take care of it on offense are going to be core tenets that we’ll talk about.”
Quinn said that he would leave the offense to new coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who will install the zone-read rushing attack with the hopes of balancing the offense. Quinn, Richard Smith and Raheem Morris will try to rebuild the defense.
Quinn has not assessed the current roster, but was looking forward to getting started. He doesn’t believe that he’ll have any problems working with Dimitroff.
“When you meet somebody and you know that you can connect like when you meet your roommate in college and you go ‘OK, he’s my kind of guy,’” Quinn said of Dimitroff. “He and I connected that way in talking about players. I can’t wait to get started that way and going into this process together.”
Blank tried to stress the collaborative nature of the new structure and not place the focus on power and control. But Dimitroff lost some in the restructure. Mike Smith reported to him.
But Dimitroff didn’t seem to be troubled by the new arrangement.
“The salient point for me is that (Quinn) had a plan,” Dimitroff said. “His plan was detailed. It was well thought out. It’s not just the idea of his defense. It was his ideas about the offense. His ideas about leading football players and leading a building. I was very impressed with Dan on so many levels.”
Dimitroff believes they’ll work together just fine.
“He’s a very intelligent guy,” Dimitroff said. “The way he communicates is clear and succinct. He’s not a rambling guy, who is all over the place with his thinking about things. He’s driven and focused.”
Both have eyes open toward upgrading the roster.
“Talent is very, very important for a team to win Super Bowls and it’s also important that a coaching staff comes in and thrives and tries to get as much out of (the) players as possible,” Dimitroff said.
In addition to Shanahan, Smith (defensive coordinator), Morris (assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator), Bobby Turner (running backs) and Mike LaFleur (offensive assistant) are on Quinn’s staff.
He retained special-teams coordinator Keith Armstrong, defensive line coach Bryan Cox, former assistant offensive line coach Wade Harman (and moved him to tight ends coach), wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie and assistant special-teams coach Eric Sutulovich.
The big holes on the staff are at offensive line and linebacker.
“It’s been a long process, we are thrilled to have it behind us, but most importantly with Dan as our head coach,” Blank said.
