The hiring of Matt Ryan as the Atlanta Falcons' president of football has drummed up all sorts of potential team reunions in the coming months.
Names from Mike McDaniel, Mike LaFleur, and Jeff Ulbrich have all been suggestedfor the new coaching staff. Each of them has experience working with the franchise's all-time great quarterback, but Brian Flores played with him.
And there is another name that is worth monitoring, according to another ex-Falcons quarterback. Kurt Benkert spent a few years as a depth and developmental quarterback, giving him unique insight, and he wants to see Matt Schaub join the franchise's next coaching staff as a quarterbacks coach.
I’d love to see @MattSchaub back with the Falcons as a QB coach next year.
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) January 10, 2026
Matt Schaub is a strong candidate for the Falcons' new coaching staff
Benkert worked under Ryan and Schaub during his three-year career in Atlanta; Ryan as the starter and Schaub as the backup. Schaub is a great potential option to tutor Michael Penix Jr., who needs the right coaching staff to help him thrive.
The Falcons drafted Schaub in the third round out of Virginia in 2004. He spent his first three years with them before he was traded for two second-round picks to the Houston Texans. That is where his career hit its highest point as he led the NFL in passing yards in 2009 and he made two Pro Bowls.
After two one-year campaigns with the Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Ravens, the grizzled vet returned to the Falcons from 2016 to his final season in 2020. The QB did return to the Falcons as a football analyst under Arthur Smith in 2023, but departed with the rest of the regime after the season.
If the Dirty Birds go with Benkert's suggestion, they get a coach who has experienced everything. He has done everything from being the NFL's top quarterback to being a backup year after year. Penix would benefit greatly from having the 44-year-old in his ear on game day.
This wouldn't be the first time a former Falcons QB would spend time as the positional coach. T.J. Yates spent last year in that position before he took over as the passing game coordinator and eventual wide receivers coach after Ike Hilliard's firing.
If the Falcons end up hiring either LaFleur brother or McDaniel, this purely speculative hiring becomes significantly more probable. Each of them coached him during the team's 2016 Super Bowl run. Ultimately, it will be the next head coach who decides what happens and if Schaub also returns.