Falcons reportedly considering ex-offensive coordinator Greg Knapp for position on coaching staff

When The Falcoholic was still just a twinkle in the blogosphere’s eye, Greg Knapp was the Falcons’ offensive coordinator. He still held that position in October 2006 when this site started up, but he didn’t hold the position much longer.

If you were around from 2004-2006, you no doubt have less than fond memories of Knapp, who presided over a Falcons offense that went 14, 16th, and 21st in points and 17th, 20th, and 16th in yards over that span. This was an offense with Michael Vick at the helm, Warrick Dunn and T.J. Duckett running wild, and Alge Crumpler catching passes, plus a largely solid offensive line. The Falcons really never got away from being just about league average despite having the most electric talent in football, and a lot of us felt the blame for that should be placed squarely on Knapp, who tried to get Vick to do more conventional pocket passer-y things and frequently clashed with his star QB.

All that said, I can recognize with the advantage of time and hindsight that Knapp didn’t do everything wrong. He was working with a group of pass catchers that was pretty mediocre, Vick had some genuine bad habits, and Knapp has gone on to carve out a pretty solid career for himself at various stops. I’m willing to let bygones be bygones...but I still can’t believe he might be coming back to Atlanta.

Depending on which report you’re reading, it’s either QB coach or a “position on the offensive coaching staff,” as Jason LaCanfora puts it. Either way, Knapp would not be in a coordinator position, but he would come aboard as a veteran coach with significant experience coordinating NFL offenses. It’s not hard to figure out the angle here: Whether Dan Quinn hires former Jaguars offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch or Knapp, he’s looking to add an experienced voice to the coaching staff who can hopefully help iron out some of Steve Sarkisian’s early troubles.

The problem with Knapp, of course, is that he’s basically only presided over two offenses that were top ten in points or yardage in his entire coaching career, back in 2001 and 2003 with the San Francisco 49ers. Otherwise, his offenses have been mediocre to bad, and he hasn’t coordinated one since 2012. I’m sure he can offer up some useful advice for Sark and shoot the breeze with Matt Ryan, but it’s not clear to me what he’ll offer that will help take this offense to any sort of new heights. To be fair, the same thing could probably be said of Fisch, who is a much hotter coaching candidate.

All that said, if Knapp comes back into the fold and helps coax some improvement out of the offense, I’ll finally be ready to move on entirely from the Vick years with him at the helm. Maybe.