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Joe Cullen is the first candidate for the Falcons' defensive line coach vacancy that we've heard of, thanks to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport.
The #Falcons requested and received permission to speak with #Browns DL coach Joe Cullen. DL coach Ray Hamilton was recently fired.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 3, 2014
This is an interesting interview for a few different reasons. First, he's got a ton of experience, rising through the college ranks before reaching the Detroit Lions back in 2006 through 2008. He spent 2009 at the University of Idaho before a three-year stint as the defensive line coach in Jacksonville, moving on to the Cleveland Browns for 2013 and presiding over a very talented line there. At every stop, he's been a guy players and coaches have praised for his intensity, player development and coaching.
Cullen is, unfortunately, most famous for driving through a Wendy's drive-thru pantsless in 2006 while drunk. He had several drinking-related incidents in 2005 and 2006 that led to him being fined $20,000, given two years' probation and placed in the league's alcohol rehab program. It was obviously a hugely embarrassing incident for Cullen, and you don't shake an incident like that easily.
By all accounts, Cullen has been clean since then. Everything I've read about him suggests he's a good coach, and he should bring some much-needed passion and intensity to a unit that needs some re-tooling this off-season, if he is indeed hired. We'll see what happens when the Falcons interview him.
Thoughts about Cullen?
