Under Kevin Stefanski, the Atlanta Falcons have made some much-needed changes to their offensive coaching staff. Stefanski brought former assistants Bill Callahan, Tommy Rees, and Alex Van Pelt with him to Atlanta, which will be a major upgrade from watching Zac Robinson run the pistol, which set back Michael Penix Jr.'s development. Thankfully this new regime is over-correcting.
While the coaches Stefanski's familiar with have got all the shine, the one he isn't could have the best impact on the Falcons' offense. Atlanta hired former New York Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand to be their new passing game coordinator, which isn't getting talked about nearly enough,
Engstrand was a solid play-caller who was given the boot because of a horrible situation. As weird as it sounds, the Jets' offensive struggles mostly weren't his fault, they were because of the QB situation, and both Penix and Tua Tagovailoa figure to be a massive upgrade over Justin Fields.
Tanner Engstrand was quietly the best hire the Atlanta Falcons made this offseason
The 43-year-old was a first-time OC in 2025 and improved as a play-caller as the season progressed. However, Aaron Glenn replaced him with Frank Reich because he didn't want to accept a demotion. And he didn't deserve a demotion in the first place, he deserved another year or another OC job.
It's not too long ago that Engstrand was considered one of the brightest young minds in the NFL. He was a disciple of Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson in Detroit, so when Johnson took the Chicago Bears' head coaching job, he was a popular candidate to land the OC job with the Lions or Bears.
Instead, he followed Glenn from Motown to New York, where he learned the lesson of the Jets' clown show the hard way. But just like Mike LaFleur a few years ago, not everything that went wrong for the Jets was his fault, which bodes well for how he should fare assisting Stefanski with the Dirty Birds.
In terms of scheming up passing plays, Engstrand fared pretty well. Guys like Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell were often open, but since Justin Fields was virtually incapable of reading a defense and Brady Cook was somehow even worse, there was nothing he could really do with Gang Green.
In terms of his situation in Atlanta, Engstrand is in a really good spot. Both Penix and Tua are light-years better than Fields, Cook, or Tyrod Taylor ever was, but that's an incredibly low bar. So knowing he's able to scheme guys open should bode well for what he can yield with considerably better QB play.
Let's also discuss the Falcons' supporting cast. He'll be working to get the ball in the hands of Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Zachariah Branch through the air. That's a lot of pieces he can use creatively, and ones who will keep defenses up at night, so it's a tough situation to mess up.
Frankly, I would not be surprised in the slightest if the Falcons' offense has another good season and Engstrand is able to parlay that success into another opportunity calling plays. So just like with Jeff Ulbrich, the Jets of all teams may have dropped another elite assistant in Stefanski's lap.
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