Falcons Continue Building Coaching Staff With New Defensive Hire

FLOWERY BRANCH – The Atlanta Falcons are continuing to fill out their coaching staff, with the official announcement that they have hired Troy Kruchten as a defensive quality control coach. Kruchten joins the growing team at Flowery Branch after the last several years in the college football ranks as a coach in the Sun Belt Conference.

Kruchten will not need to go far, as his last stop in downtown Atlanta was with the Georgia State Panthers. He had recently been promoted to become an assistant coach for nickel cornerbacks and co-special teams coordinator for this season, but will instead make the jump to the NFL.

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Before he took on his current role, he served as outside linebackers coach at Georgia State in 2025. Kruchten was a graduate assistant at the University of Florida ahead of his coaching tenure in Atlanta. In that role, he assisted with the edge and linebacker positions and served as an assistant to the defensive coordinator.

He played a key role in contributing to film study, scouting, and other game preparations. Kruchten spent four seasons with the Gators (2021-24), including one coaching under the Falcons’ new defensive pass game coordinator, Patrick Toney.

Before launching his coaching career, Kruchten was a linebacker at Louisiana for three seasons after transferring from Southeastern Louisiana (2017-18). In his time with the Ragin’ Cajuns (2019-21), he appeared in 25 games and recorded 10 total tackles. Louisiana won a share of the Sun Belt Title in 2020 and then won it outright in 2021.

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Kruchten will join a staff looking to improve on a season in which they made major strides. The Falcons finished No. 15 in total defense (326.6 yards per game), No. 19 in scoring defense (23.6 points per game), and No. 15 in expected points added (EPA) per play (-0.04). The Falcons, bolstered by a breakout pass rush that set a franchise record for sacks, had a strong pass defense. Atlanta finished No. 14 in EPA per pass allowed (-0.08), but struggled in rush defense. They finished No. 27 in EPA per rush allowed (+0.01).

The staff from last season was largely retained under defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. Other new additions on the defensive staff include Toney and Ricky Manning.