The Atlanta Falcons kicked the tires on making Mike McDaniel their next head coach, but those discussions never went very far. Matt Ryan granted his former assistant an interview, but it became clear relatively early on that the Falcons were never seriously considering bringing in McDaniel.
After John Harbaugh went off the board, the Falcons pivoted to Kevin Stefanski, which saw the 42-year-old be left out to dry. Instead, he was being pursued for several offensive coordinator jobs, but Atlanta's was never one of them, as McDaniel decided to accept the Los Angeles Chargers' OC opening.
Former Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel is expected to become the Chargers offensive coordinator barring a change of heart, per @JeffDarlington and me. McDaniel has informed other teams that they’re out, the Chargers clearly want him, and the two sides are having dinner tonight. But the… pic.twitter.com/N7onkCadlK
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 21, 2026
No deal is set in stone yet, as they're waiting to see if any potential head coaching opportunities will materialize across the next couple of days. It seems unlikely, so in all likelihood, Jim Harbaugh and the Bolts just landed the best OC candidate on the market, which very well could've been the Dirty Birds.
It was always going to be Tommy Rees as the OC, as that was the frontrunner from the beginning, but the Falcons hardly even conducted an interview process. And it didn't take them much longer to make things official.
Kevin Stefanski made a huge mistake by not even considering Mike McDaniel over Tommy Rees as Falcons' OC
In all honesty, it was never going to be McDaniel, but boy it would've been fun. If the Falcons had a second polished, battle tested offensive mind working to turn Michael Penix Jr.'s career around, fans would have been even more confident in the foundation in place in regards to Penix's development.
In addition to the Chargers, McDaniel was receiving interest from the Lions, Eagles and Bucs,so selling him on this QB situation would've been tough. After all, he did choose to spend the season calling plays for Justin Herbert in hopes of parlaying that into a second shot as a head coach in 2027.
McDaniel ran a really solid offense in Miami despite Tua Tagoviloa's clear limitations, and frankly, shouldn't have even been fired to begin with. He turned Tua into a Pro Bowler who led the NFL in passing yards, so there's no telling what he could've accomplished with Penix if he stayed healthy.
This is a tough fumble for the Falcons, mainly because McDaniel has coached here before and is clearly close with Ryan. Then again, there likely would have been a power struggle between him and Stefanski, whereas he and Jim Harbaugh's main philosophies contrast but complement one another.
McDaniel employs a Shanahan-like wide zone run scheme that utilizes versatility, whereas Harbaugh likes to play physical, power football where the run game is designed to set up the play-action. Honestly, Stefanski would've been a better fit next to him, but he has a different OC plan in the works.
After this big miss, the Falcons started to cast a wider net beyond Rees and Brian Callahan... just to take a massive step back and do what Stefanski wanted anyways.