Candidates to replace Dan Quinn as Atlanta Falcons head coach

Lincoln Riley

This name is circulating like wildfire among Atlanta Falcons fans, I get it, and he is seen as a genius and has had two straight Heisman Trophy winners. The reason that he makes sense, is he is an innovator. When you look at who wins in the NFL, they are innovators.

Can he run an NFL franchise? No idea, but if Blank hires the right GM and Riley can hire the right staff around him, the rest will fall into place. Being a younger coach also gives him an advantage in relating to players which is huge these days.

This would be a home run hire if they can lure him away from Oklahoma. Most NFL fans don’t understand that there are college coaches who just have no interest in the NFL, no one knows if Riley is among them.

Tony Elliott

Tony Elliott is a foreign name to most NFL fans, however, he has been the offensive coordinator at Clemson for six seasons. His offenses are an as high profile as you can get and the results on the field speak for themselves. Unlike Riley, Elliott has won at the highest level in college and has churned out NFL talent left and right.

In addition to Elliott being an offensive innovator, remember he has won with Deshaun Watson, Kelly Bryant and now Trevor Lawrence who all have very different strengths and skillsets, he has an engineering degree. He likes to break things down and build them back up. That type of acute intelligence would go a long way in the NFL.

Tom Herman

Another young guy that is an offensive innovator on the college level. He inherited a mess at Texas and has still been able to log some big wins while trying to establish a culture of winning in Austin. Not many offensive coordinators could have won a national title using three quarterbacks, all of which would go on to play in the NFL.

Herman is also a member of MENSA International. Like Tony Elliot, he has the ability to dissect and rebuild in ways that most coaches cannot.