Following a relatively smooth head coaching search, the Atlanta Falcons have found their guy in Kevin Stefanski. Stefanski's time in Cleveland wasn't overly impressive, but given the situation he's inheriting with the Falcons, fans are right to enter the 2026 season with relatively high expectations.
Now that Atlanta has Stefanski in place, all the attention shifts from head coaching speculation to coaching staff speculation. The 43-year-old is beginning to assemble his coaching staff, but aside from retaining Jeff Ulbrich as DC, the fanbase has more questions than answers about the new staff.
However, there could be some overlap from his Browns' staff. The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported last night that Stefanski could brinf coaches from his previous staff to Atlanta. Cleveland OC Tommy Rees will likely follow him, and he's also expected to bring Bill Callahan to coach the offensive line.
Veteran OL coach Bill Callahan is likely to join new #Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski in Atlanta, sources tell The Insiders. Callahan was on Stefanski’s coaching staff with the #Browns before leaving to join his son Brian with the #Titans in 2023. pic.twitter.com/w249JF8ZUe
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 18, 2026
Bringing over Callahan is bittersweet, because he's great and all, but the Dirty Birds shouldn't let current OL coach and run game coordinator Dwayne Ledford walk in favor of him. That would be a mistake this regime would sorely regret.
The Falcons are making a mistake by choosing Bill Callahan over Dwayne Ledford
Callahan comes with decades of offensive line coaching experience across several different teams. His group wasn't great in his last stop in Tennessee, but that group didn't have much talent, but he is still one of the best offensive line coaches in the history of the sport with a fantastic track record.
The 69-year-old has coached 14 different offensive linemen to Pro Bowls, which includes players like Zack Martin, Tyron Smith, Trent Williams, and the late Nick Mangold. His coaching also resulted in 35 Pro Bowl appearances between those 14 players, which Falcons fans shouldn't gloss over either.
However, he's had some major misses in recent years that makes moving on from Ledford for him a mistake. The 49-year-old worked wonders with Atlanta's OL to the point he was retained by Raheem Morris when the Falcons fired Arthur Smith, and his outside zone scheme was uber-effective in 2025.
Despite working with scraps at right tackle all year, Bijan Robinson enjoyed the best season of his career and broke the single-season franchise record for scrimmage yards. Yes, that's a generational RB, but not every OL coach is able to turn Elijah Wilkinson and Ryan Neuzil into productive starters.
Ledford admitted he wanted to stay in Atlanta a few weeks ago, but this may no longer be the case. As much as I hope they keep him around, if they lose him since Stefanski prefers to bring along Callahan, he would instantly become one of the more coveted OL coaching candidates in the NFL.