Atlanta Falcons should hire former division rival

Life for the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South grew a bit easier with the news the Carolina Panthers signed Frank Reich as their head coach. Putting aside the Sean Payton rumors and moving on from Steve Wilks the Falcons have to feel great about how the head coaching search ended for Carolina.

Reich is a solid coach but lacks the track record of Payton or the ability that Wilks showed to turn a flailing team in the right direction. Steve Wilks took a team competing for the first pick in the draft and turned them around. Wilks had to team in a position to go to the playoffs with a Sam Darnold vs. Tom Brady showdown defining the season.

Carolina’s injured secondary was predictably burned by Brady and the Bucs survived for two more weeks before an ugly first-round exit. Steve Wilks was set up to fail and did more with Carolina than anyone expected. He is more than deserving of a head coaching role and should have been given better consideration in Carolina.

Wilks clearly had the respect of his players and did more in the final games of the season than Matt Rhule did in three years.

Wilks will now be looking for a new head coaching opportunity or fall back to a DC role one the Atlanta Falcons are perfectly suited to offer. Atlanta is a great fit for Wilks offering the coach a young defense with talented pieces and the chance to haunt the team that fired him for doing his job well. Carolina moving on from Wilks to hire Reich is head-scratching for a team who seemed to be heading in the right direction with a solid draft pick and a coach in Wilks who was winning. Perhaps Carolina’s poor decision is the perfect opportunity for the Falcons to hire Wilks as their defensive coordinator and set Wilks up to earn a much-deserved chance at another head coaching job.