The Falcons don't have a head coach yet, and it may be weeks before they land one. That doesn't mean they're not making efforts to keep pieces of their current coaching staff intact, however.
Jets denied permission to talk to Keith Armstrong. http://t.co/eDuBXcW6MF
— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) January 15, 2015
#Raiders denied permission to interview #Falcons offensive line coach Mike Tice. http://t.co/eDuBXcW6MF
— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) January 15, 2015
The Falcons wouldn't do this unless they felt their new head coach would be amenable to keeping Armstrong and Tice around. Armstrong is simply one of the best special teams coordinators in the game today, and there's virtually no way an incoming coach is going to make a hire that would improve upon him. I hope Armstrong is happy to stay, because it looks like he's going to be in Atlanta for at least the 2015 season. The Jets will have to find a special teams coordinator elsewhere.
Tice is an interesting case. As an offensive line coach, the move to Oakland would be a lateral one, so the Falcons happily denied that one, too. But as a position coach, denying him permission to move is at least slightly unusual for the team, and they'll likely need to give him some kind of incentive to keep him gruntled under the new head coach.
Either way, the Falcons appear to have their offensive line coach and special teams coordinator, at least, for their impending new hire. That's not a bad start.