So far, the Falcons have interviewed or plan to interview five candidates for their defensive coordinator vacancy — Wink Martindale, Lou Anarumo, Steve Wilks, and Jeff Ulbrich. The latest being Derrick Ansley, who the team announced they completed an interview with on Thursday.
Ansley’s most recent stop was in Green Bay as the Packers passing game coordinator, but before that, his most notable gig was with the Chargers. In LA, Ansley was the secondary coach in 2021 and 2022 before receiving a promotion to defensive coordinator in 2023, where he oversaw a pretty damn good defense.
Of course, that was Brandon Staley’s defense; Ansley didn’t even call plays. In fact, he’s never been a play-calling coordinator at the NFL level. He was the Tennessee DC for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, the former being a top defense in the country.
This begs the question: why the hell would Raheem Morris and the Falcons go down the exact same path they did in 2024? Jimmy Lake was a first-time playcaller at the NFL level last season, and it blew up in Atlanta’s face.
Not only did it take a step back following Ryan Nielsen’s improvement in 2023, Lake’s unit did so with better talent, at least on paper. Even worse, the Falcons had “communication issues” in their season finale against the Panthers with three All-Pros in the secondary… That’s a coaching issue.
I’m not quite sure what the hell Raheem Morris is even doing interviewing Derrick Ansley, no disrespect to him. The only way this would make sense is if Morris intends to take over playcalling duties.
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