Saturday night marked one of the most groundbreaking moments in Atlanta Falcons' franchise history, which saw the coaching search finally come to an end. Matt Ryan put his Falcons' legacy on the line to hire Kevin Stefanski as the franchise's next head coach, which is a pretty massive swing.
Stefanski isn't the most popular head coaching candidate, but he was still one of the most coveted head coaches available. The front office clearly coveted an experienced head coach to work with a rookie executive, and their vision is more visible for fans to see than it was with Raheem Morris.
The Falcons have worked are currently in the midst of an eight-year playoff drought. They haven't been nationally prevalent since Ryan was a player, so the coaching change should help capitalize on a roster that is too talented to miss the playoffs, while helping reset the culture basically overnight.
After two seasons of Raheem Morris leading this roster to underperform, the 43-year-old is a considerable upgrade for the Dirty Birds, but here are the big winners and losers of the move.
Who stands to benefit the most and least from Falcons' decision to hire Kevin Stefanski?
Winner: Kevin Stefanski
It might sound weird to list Stefanski as a winner of his own hire, especially since it's obvious, but hear me out. The main reason the Browns fired the 43-year-old was because of the growing rift between he and ownership because Jimmy Haslam and Andrew Berry consistently overruled his authority.
He was equipped with a horrible roster in Cleveland, but he's much more set up for success in Atlanta. The roster being significantly better is one thing, but working with a more patient owner in Arthur Blank and the ability to work collaboratively with Ryan and the new GM is a much better situation.
Winner: Bijan Robinson
In Cleveland, Stefanski employed a zone running scheme similar to the system Kyle Shanahan runs, but likes to play more smash-mouth football. Bijan Robinson thrived in a vanilla offense in 2025, but he's the type of player who could thrive in any system while playing with any QB, he's just that special.
After all, the 23-year-old is a generational talent who broke the franchise record for scrimmage yards in a season in 2025, and now he'll be playing in a more diverse rushing attack.
The two-time Coach of the Year also loves to run the football. In his first three seasons in Cleveland, Nick Chubb surpassed 1,000 rushing yards (before getting hurt). He turned Chubb (and Dalvin Cook) into the two league's best backs, so there's no telling what he can do with a player with Bijan's skillset.
Winner: Michael Penix Jr.
A big reason the Falcons hired Stefanski to begin with was to help with the development of Michael Penix Jr. Penix's social media activity suggests he's pretty amped up about the hire, and it's hard to blame him after the previous regime had no clue how to cater the offense to Penix's strengths.
Through 12 starts, the 25-year-old hasn't been the most accomplished QB throughout his NFL career, but there's still a lot of meat left on the bone. He has the arm talent to thrive and would excel in a play-action based scheme, which the exact system Stefanski is bringing over with him to Atlanta.
Winner: James Pearce Jr. and Jalon Walker
Frankly, you could list the entire defense as potential winners here, but I focused on the two main benefactors of the Stefanski hire. It's been reported that the Falcons are planning to retain DC Jeff Ulbrich on his coaching staff, which has been the expectation within the facility for days now.
With Ulbrich returning, you could venture to say that DL coach Nate Ollie will be back too, which is good news for James Pearce Jr. and Jalon Walker. Both enjoyed sensational rookie seasons, and the best is yet to come with another season of continunity in Ulbrich's system under their belt.
Loser: Darnell Mooney
You could argue that Darnell Mooney is a loser regardless of who the Falcons would have hired. He was hampered by injuries, but he was unproductive this season to the point that he has no future on this team. He makes too much money in 2026, but they can get out of his deal relatively unscathed.
He's been on the chopping block for a while now, but this provides the nail in the coffin. Stefanski's successful track record with drafting wide receivers suggests that the 28-year-old is on the way out, since this offense needs to bolster the receiver room behind Drake London.
Loser: Dwayne Ledford
Hiring Stefanski meant the Falcons' coaching staff was going to deal with some turnover with him bringing assistants over from Cleveland, but Ledford was expected to be relatively safe. However, he's bringing Bill Callahan to coach the offensive line, which means he won't be back in Atlanta.
Ledford will be one of the most coveted OL coaches/ run game coordinators available, and it won't be hard for him to find work elsewhere. The 49-year-old work wonders with this offensive line, but replacing him with Callahan is as good as it gets.