New Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski says that until the team has a general manager, there’s no way to say who the quarterbacks on the roster will be.
Asked on NFL Network about the status of Michael Penix Jr. and Kirk Cousins, Stefanski said that’s a discussion that can happen when Falcons President Matt Ryan hires a GM.
“I think we have to hire a general manager first, before I can give you a great answer there,” Stefanski said. “Once we do that I’ll sit with the general manager, sit with Matt Ryan, we’ll put our heads together on all roster decisions.”
Stefanski has previously said he’s looking forward to working with Penix, and he said the Falcons are pleased with his rehab from last season’s torn ACL.
“Michael is a young player that I think very highly of, he is rehabbing off his injury, he’s doing great, he’s doing everything he’s supposed to be doing right now, which is the number one thing for him, is to get healthy,” Stefanski said. “He’s obviously played good football in his first two seasons. I’m excited to have the ability to develop him.”
Cousins is widely expected to be released soon, although Stefanski again said that decision will be for the next GM.
“Kirk, obviously, a relationship there, he’s somebody that I think very highly of on and off the field. But all those types of decisions will come after we have a general manager,” Stefanski said.
Is there any chance that both Cousins and Penix could be on the Falcons’ roster for the 2026 season?
“Those are all the types of discussions that will come in the next week or so,” Stefanski said.
Realistically, the most likely outcome is that Cousins will be gone and another quarterback will be brought in to compete with Penix. But a new GM comes first.
Falcons Clips
In each of the last two seasons with the Browns, head coach Kevin Stefanski turned over offensive play-calling duties to his offensive coordinator midway through the year.
That won’t be the case in 2026.
In his introductory press conference as Falcons head coach on Tuesday, Stefanski said that Rees will serve as Atlanta’s offensive play-caller.
“That’s a setup that I’m very, very comfortable with. I think he’s an outstanding football coach. He’s young, but I don’t know if you always measure experience just in years. I think he’s had unbelievable experiences in his young career,” Stefanski said, via George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal. “He is somebody that I trust. We see the game similarly, but we also push each other because we’re different, so Tommy will head up that offensive staff.”
Rees joined Stefanski with Cleveland in 2024 as a pass game specialist and tight ends coach. He was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2025.
After Kevin Stefanski was hired by the Falcons, one of his former Browns players took notice of a tweet referencing the team’s revolving door of quarterbacks during Stefanski’s tenure.
Baker Mayfield was the starting quarterback when Stefanski was hired as the head coach in Cleveland in 2020 and the two men guided the Browns to the divisional round of the playoffs that year, which is likely why Mayfield took issue with being called a failure and part of a “dumpster fire” at the position. Mayfield was traded to the Panthers after the Browns missed the playoffs in 2021 and went on to say he’s “still waiting” to hear from Stefanski after being “shipped off like a piece of garbage.”
Mayfield closed by saying that he’s looking forward to facing Stefanski twice a year. During an introductory press conference in Atlanta on Tuesday, Stefanski was asked for his response to Mayfield’s comments.
“Baker’s somebody that I have a ton of respect for as a player and a person,” Stefanski said. “I love rivalries in sports, and, obviously, Buccaneers-Falcons have a great rivalry. It’s something that I’m excited about. I would not get into the specifics of those type of things, other than to say I have a ton of respect for Baker as a player, as a person. That’s a great team with a great player.”
We don’t know when the Bucs and Falcons will play each other during the 2026 season, but both Mayfield and Stefanski are likely to field more questions about each other in the days leading up to their first matchup.
With president of football Matt Ryan and head coach Kevin Stefanski in place, the Falcons are moving toward finding the next member of their new regime.
According to multiple reports, Bears assistant General Manager Ian Cunningham and Texans assistant General Manager James Liipfert will both have second interviews for Atlanta’s General Manager vacancy this week.
Cunningham had interviewed for the president of football job that went to Ryan. He’s been in the mix for several G.M. jobs over the last few offseasons.
Liipfert interviewed with the Falcons for their G.M. job last week.
Atlanta is replacing Terry Fontenot, who spent five seasons in the role.
Falcons quarterback Michael Penix hasn’t done much to prove he’s a franchise quarterback since arriving in Atlanta as the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. But new Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski says he’s optimistic about what Penix can do.
Penix is rehabbing a torn ACL, and Stefanski said that’s the primary focus right now.
“Michael is somebody I’m very excited about, and his rehab is what’s most important right now. I saw him in the training room this week. He’s, as you can imagine, attacking his rehab,” Stefanski said, via Terrin Waack of the Falcons.
So what will the Falcons get from Penix once he’s cleared to return?
“I think you see a player on tape that can get through progressions, can layer the ball, can push the ball to all areas of the field,” Stefanski said. “Obviously, he was very productive in college, has had some really, really, really good moments here in the pros, so I just see a young player that will continue to develop and continue to get there.”
The Falcons also have Kirk Cousins on the roster at the moment, but they’re expected to cut him soon. Stefanski served as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator of the Vikings in Cousins’ first two seasons in Minnesota but was noncommittal on whether there’s a chance that Cousins could be in Atlanta this year.
“When it comes to Kirk, obviously have a previous relationship with Kirk. But I don’t know if it’s the time yet to talk about all the position and those types of things. Those types of conversations will come in due time,” Stefanski said.
The Ravens have made a key addition for one of their offensive assistants under first-year coach Jesse Minter.
Per Adam Schefter of ESPN, Baltimore is set to hire former Atlanta run game coordinator/offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford for the same job and title.
Ledford, 49, had served as the Falcons line coach since 2021, adding run game coordinator to his title when Raheem Morris became head coach in 2024.
Ledford spent time with several franchises as a player, appearing in nine games for San Francisco from 2000-2003.
Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski has filled a few more spots on his coaching staff.
The team announced that they have hired Robert Prince as their wide receivers coach. Prince held the same job for the Dolphins in 2025 and he interviewed for the Giants’ offensive coordinator job last week, but Monday’s news suggests he’s not in the running for that position.
The Falcons also announced that they are retaining secondary coach Justin Hood, defensive line coach Nate Ollie, and tight ends coach Kevin Koger from Raheem Morris’s 2025 coaching staff.
In addition to those moves, Stefanski has tabbed his Cleveland colleague Bob Quinn as a senior advisor. Quinn was a senior personnel and coaching executive with the Browns for the last five seasons.
The Falcons have hired a special teams coordinator.
Atlanta announced on Monday that Craig Aukerman has joined the franchise in the role.
Auckerman, 49, held the same role with the Dolphins in 2025. He was Tennessee’s special teams coordinator from 2018-2023 after working as the club’s assistant special teams coach in 2017.
Before that, he was the Chargers’ special teams coordinator in 2016.
The Falcons have now retained Jeff Ulbrich as defensive coordinator and added Tommy Rees as offensive coordinator for head coach Kevin Stefanski’s first staff with the club.
The Bills are casting a wide net when it comes to searching for their next head coach. But not wide enough to encompass the man who won six Super Bowls with a division rival.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Bills are not interested in Bill Belichick.
At one level, it’s surprising. If the Bills are going to interview someone like Philip Rivers for the job, why not kick the tires on the Tar Heels head coach? At a not-much-deeper level, Belichick has morphed from GOAT in a good way to goat in the usual sense.
He’s currently regarded as radioactive by most NFL teams looking for coaches. And he has only himself to blame, thanks to the bizarre distractions he created in North Carolina over the past year and his open hostility toward his long-time employer in New England. Any NFL owner who would be inclined to hire Belichick would have to assume that, eventually, some of that same venom will be directed to his next former team.
Before it even gets to that, the current employees of the football operation would have to worry about Belichick showing up and taking over, firing long-time employees and bringing in his own people (like Lombo). That’s what apparently derailed Belichick’s candidacy with the Falcons in 2024, after he was fired by the Patriots.
And so here we are. Three full hiring cycles. One interview for Bill Belichick. And no indication that he’ll ever have another chance to chase Don Shula — or to fend off Andy Reid — on the all-time wins list.
The Titans would like to speak to one of Robert Saleh’s assistants with the Jets about joining Saleh in Tennessee this season.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that they have requested an interview with Falcons pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg for their defensive coordinator position.
Rutenberg was the linebackers coach for the Jets during Saleh’s three-plus years as the team’s head coach and he joined the Falcons’ staff along with former Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich last year. Ulbrich will stay with Atlanta under Kevin Stefanski, but Rutenberg could move on to a new role.
Texans defensive backs coach Dino Vasso is also a candidate for the defensive coordinator job in Tennessee.
