Atlanta Falcons must pay attention to Shanahan’s 49ers

If the Atlanta Falcons had to do it over again at the end of their epic Super Bowl collapse there isn’t any question the team would let go of their head coach and promote offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Everywhere Kyle goes the offense takes a step forward and team success obviously follows. After leaving Atlanta Kyle landed with the 49ers and has had them in contention late in the year nearly every season since leaving Atlanta.

Atlanta should be watching Kyle this season closely in particular learning from the example his roster is setting. The 49ers made it to the NFC championship despite being on their third starting quarterback this season. Brock Purdy was selected as an afterthought with Jimmy G. and Trey Lance clearly ahead of him on the depth chart.

Lance started the season before an injury forced the team to turn to Jimmy who was replaced by Purdy. The starting quarterbacks keep changing for Kyle’s team but what hasn’t is the success and winning consistency that Kyle helped bring to Atlanta.

The Falcons are in a spot to learn from this approaching the off-season with their focus on building a complete roster. Adding depth at the quarterback position without spending the huge contract that limits teams.

Atlanta has the cap space and draft picks to build a complete team just as San Francisco has done since Kyle took over. Atlanta’s focus shouldn’t be on the Lamar Jackson saga or who they could chase to put them over the top this off-season. The 49ers made a splashy move this year bringing in star running back Christian McCaffrey helping them make a playoff push. However, this is an outlier of a move for a team that builds correctly using free agency and the draft to bring in depth at every position more worried about building a complete roster than adding 1-2 star players or the big-name at quarterback.

San Francisco was a play away from beating Patrick Mahomes in a Super Bowl with Jimmy G. at quarterback and now find themselves playing to return to the Super Bowl with Brock Purdy. If you build a complete roster the quarterback can simply sit back and play point guard instead of having to be the savior. Shanahan has perfected this and the results are telling, results the Falcons must learn from and keep in mind when making decisions this off-season.