Whereas Wink Martindale was a shock, the Atlanta Falcons have clearly been prioritizing expertise of their defensive coordinator interviews up to now. Not like Jimmy Lake, who was getting into his first 12 months as a coordinator on the NFL stage, the likes of Martindale, Jeff Ulbrich, Lou Anarumo, and Steve Wilks all have a number of years of expertise in that position. The protected assumption has been that the Falcons need a extra seasoned coach after Lake washed out after only one 12 months in Atlanta.
The one interview to problem that assumption is the one we simply realized about, with Packers defensive cross recreation coordinator Derrick Ansley. That’s to not say that Ansley has no expertise—he was the Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator underneath Brandon Staley in 2023, although he didn’t name performs—however that he’s not in the identical league as the opposite names on this record when it comes to time spent as a defensive coordinator.
Ansley has been a defensive backs coach all through his profession, which included stops at Huntingdon, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky earlier than he jumped to the professionals because the Raiders defensive backs coach in 2018. He served because the defensive coordinator for Tennessee from 2019 to 2020 earlier than becoming a member of the Chargers as their defensive backs coach, incomes the elevation to defensive coordinator in 2023 earlier than that workers was fired en masse. He spent final season with the Packers, serving as their defensive cross recreation coordinator, the place Inexperienced Bay completed across the fringes of a prime 10 protection, as they did in 2023. Ansley did get an opportunity to take over play calling over the ultimate three weeks of the 2023 season with the Chargers after Staley’s crew allowed 63 factors to the hapless Raiders and he was rapidly fired; Ansley’s Bolts impressively held the Payments to 24 factors and the Chiefs to 13 in two of the ultimate three matchups.
Ansley must be seen as a longshot for this position not due to any explicit lack of advantage—his work in school and the professionals has been high quality—however as a result of the Falcons have in any other case interviewed extra skilled candidates with the information that Lake’s inexperience and the gamble Raheem Morris took on him led to such poor 2023 outcomes. He can be an especially certified candidate for a defensive cross recreation coordinator position in Atlanta, a title that’s at the moment not on the Falcons’ workers, if he have been keen to leap from Inexperienced Bay underneath a brand new defensive coordinator.
We’ll see if Ansley can shock and land the job, however on the very least it’s good to see the Falcons casting a large web of their search given the significance of changing Lake with an excellent coach.
