With Raheem Morris gone, the Atlanta Falcons' head coaching search is officially in full force. The Falcons' job figures to be one of the more desirable openings this coaching cycle, which has linked the team to several ideal candidates as Arthur Blank is starting to schedule preliminary interviews.
The two coaches who have been most linked to the opening are ex-Ravens' head coach John Harbaugh and Seattle Seahawks' OC Klint Kubiak, but Kevin Stefanski is another intriguing option for a team that is desperately searching for a coach to tap into the Falcons' immense offensive potential.
It's no secret that Blank tends to prefer candidates with past head coaching experience, but Stefanski has also been linked to several OC vacancies, including another job in the NFC South. And after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, they could steal away Stefanski.
The Bucs could get revenge on the Falcons by pursuing Kevin Stefanski for their OC opening
After the Falcons' Week 18 win knocked the Bucs out of the playoffs, they've been searching for their revenge, and they can finally get it now. It's no secret there is a lot of bad blood between the NFC South rivals, and there is nothing that Baker Mayfield would love more than to screw Atlanta over.
Todd Bowles knows he's coaching for his job next season, which is why Grizzard was let go to begin with. They had two future head coaches in Liam Coen and Dave Canales as their previous two play-callers, yet their offense looked like a shell of itself during their collapse after a 6-1 start to 2025.
Something else worth noting is the connection between Mayfield and Stefanski, which could make this a reality. The two-time Coach of the Year coached the former No. 1 pick in his first season in Cleveland back in 2020, which saw the Browns go 11-5 and win a playoff game over the Steelers.
From there, things went downhill after Baker played through an injury in 2021, which led ownership to force the team to trade him after acquiring Deshaun Watson via trade that offseason, which ended in disaster—but reports suggest that Stefanski wasn't on board with Watson and wanted to keep Baker.
This would be an absolute nightmare for the Dirty Birds, and it's twofold. The familiarity between QB and OC in Tampa Bay would re-ignite an offense that has the potential to be among the best in football, which would occur while the Bucs steal a perfect coaching candidate away from the Falcons.