One of the most attractive parts of Raheem Morris’ candidacy was his ability to hire a great staff for the Falcons.
Once he was hired, the club immediately felt the benefits when it emerged that Zac Robinson would follow him from Los Angeles to Atlanta. The former Rams quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator was the hottest offensive coordinator candidate of the hiring cycle, and there wasn’t a peep about him going anywhere else.
Everyone’s looking for the next great offensive coordinator — the next Kyle Shanahan, or in Atlanta’s case, the next Sean McVay. Robinson is expected to run some variation of his former head coach’s system, which is obviously a big reason Raheem Morris wanted him in Atlanta.
When asked what the Falcons’ McVay-esque offense would look like under Robinson, Atlanta’s new head mentioned all of the staples of the Rams’ offense — motion, indicators, etc.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris explains what the Atlanta offense will look like with Zac Robinson as the offensive coordinator pic.twitter.com/9Z298wEnZd
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) February 27, 2024
The hope is Robinson will be able to help Atlanta’s young talent realize their full potential and make the offense more productive overall.
The Falcons finished 15th in the NFL in yards per play (5.2) and 26th in scoring (18.8 ppg) this season. The Rams were seventh in yards per play (5.6) and eighth in scoring (23.5 ppg).
The most immediate difference between the Falcons offense under Arthur Smith and Zac Robinson is going to be personnel. McVay runs more 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers) than just about any other team in the league, whereas the Falcons ran less 11 personnel than just about anyone.
It’s likely a factor in the Falcons parting ways with veteran Jonnu Smith yesterday. Paying a TE2 $9 million isn’t a wise allocation of funds for a team that isn’t going to use a lot of two tight end sets.
Raheem Morris is giddy over the thought of Zac Robinson calling his own offense, which should give Falcons fans confidence he made the right hire.
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Photographer: Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire
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