Will Dan Quinn be the next head coach fired?

With Jay Gruden getting the boot in the nation’s capital, does that mean Dan Quinn will be the next head coach fired this season?

Things have gone from bad to terrible for the Atlanta Falcons in 2019. After a 7-9 season in 2018, many expected Atlanta would contend for a division title in the NFC South and get back to the playoffs. However, it has been anything but that this season, as the Falcons find themselves at 1-4 through five games. One person who is getting a ton of blame is head coach Dan Quinn.

On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame, Josh Hill and Mark Carman answer the question if Quinn will end up being the next head coach fired this season (52:00). Many thought Quinn had a shot at being the first coach whacked this year, but the hyper-dysfunctional Washington Redskins beat the Falcons to the punch by firing Jay Gruden on Monday.

“I’m out because I don’t think the Falcons are going to fire him in the season, but I do think that he’s going to get fired,” said Hill. “I don’t think he’s the next head coach to get fired. I don’t know who that would be.”

“Dan Quinn, I think, has at least earned enough in his time in Atlanta to see this through to the end of the season. The Falcons are a well-run organization. They don’t do shady things like that. I think that Dan Quinn absolutely gets fired and Jay Gruden is coaching the Falcons next year.”

Hill is right in that owner Arthur Blank runs a first-class organization. He isn’t the type of owner to whack a head coach mid-season unless he absolutely has to. Quinn did take the Falcons to Super Bowl LI in his second year in the job. So perhaps Quinn will get canned after his second straight losing season, much in the same vein of his predecessor Mike Smith did in 2013 and 2014.

Verderame, however, does think that Quinn will be the next head coach to go this season. “I’m in just because I think it’s becoming untenable…Arthur Blank is a great owner and he’s somebody who has a lot of patience, he doesn’t make snap judgments, but yeah, you’re probably looking at that.”

There are other coaches who are performing poorly in the early part of this season. One might argue that Freddie Kitchens of the Cleveland Browns and Adam Gase of the New York Jets stand the chance to go one-and-done this year, assuming they even make it to the season. If Quinn wants any chance of getting off the hot seat, the Falcons must beat the Arizona Cardinals.

Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:

• Browns continue to be a disaster (1:23).
• Give the Indianapolis Colts credit for beating the Kansas City Chiefs (7:35).
• A breakdown of dysfunction in Washington (15:42).
• Is Gardner Minshew the Rookie of the Year (48:50)?

All this and more!

Subscribe to Stacking The Box and follow Matt Verderame, Josh Hill and Mark Carman on Twitter.