Atlanta Falcons Need to Kick Tires on Old Saints Boss Dennis Allen

Despite looking under multiple stones for a new defensive coordinator, the Atlanta Falcons would be remiss not to consider old adversary Dennis Allen.
Former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen should garner an interview with the Atlanta Falcons.
Former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen should garner an interview with the Atlanta Falcons. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
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As the revolving door continues to spin prospective new defensive coordinators through the door at Atlanta Falcons headquarters, the general feeling is that head coach Raheem Morris is going to leave no stone unturned.

Several well-known names such as Don "Wink" Martindale, Steve Wilks and Jeff Ulbrich have already made their pitch with Lou Anarumo scheduled to visit Flowery Branch on Thursday - still nothing has been set in stone just yet.

Launching into some detailed evaluations over the future construction of the defensive coaching staff certainly sounded like it was mainly internal at first, well in part.

"We've got to evaluate all of our coaches," Morris said during his end of season review. "We've got to evaluate all of our players. We've got to evaluate everything that we do from a whole program standpoint, and we will do those things. That's what starts today."

A week later, the Falcons fired defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake and defensive line coach Jay Rodgers. 

While that transparency is entirely understandable at this tender juncture, surely some of the soul searching was done to get a far clearer picture about who might be compatible for the defensive coordinator position?

Extending invites to get to know some experienced coaches a little better is always smart practice, but could the Falcons still be making a mistake by not looking in the direction of an old adversary?

Former New Orleans Saints longtime defensive coordinator and recent head coach Dennis Allen has a wealth of knowledge about how to do battle in the NFC South, so surely he is worthy of getting a serious look.

Of course, Atlanta native Allen knows Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot extremely well from the time they spent working together at the Saints. He was co-defensive coordinator with Ryan Nielsen when the Falcons hired Nielsen away in 2023 to take the lead of the Falcons defense.  

That's just the tip of the iceberg in fairness, because the kind of crucial inside knowledge Allen has within the division could be a tap Morris and Co. might be well minded to turn back on for next season.

Any kind of notion that Morris and Fontenot had perhaps already identified a preferred candidate can probably be dismissed, simply due to the sheer number of coaches they've already had through the door.

All of which absolutely must put Allen in play for the coordinator’s job in Atlanta. 

Building a more attacking defensive unit is a particularly strong suit of Allen. Thus far at least, the name of Allen has failed to appear on the Falcons radar, but that could be subject to change. 

After all, the labor market in the NFL for dynamic defensive coordinators is always vibrant at this time of year.

Where there's smoke we find fire, and given the fact that Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is getting several detailed looks for a head coaching job right now, Allen reuniting with his old boss in the Mile High City could be putting other teams off.

Either way you slice it however, and especially in the NFL, you snooze, you lose.


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