AJC: Dirk Koetter the favorite for Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator

Earlier in the afternoon on Black Monday, former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator emerged as the “favorite” to replace Steve Sarkisian, per an ESPN report from Falcons beat writer Vaughn McClure. It’s tough to find a better source with beat writers following the team to games and covering the team during the week at Flowery Branch.

We were preparing for Bevell’s arrival in an upcoming press conference.

Now long-time beat writer D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported on the team’s favorite to replace Sarkisian. It isn’t Bevell.

After being fired by Tampa Bay as head coach on Sunday, former Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter is considered the front-runner to land the open offensive coordinator position, according to a source with knowledge of teams looking for offensive coordinators.

Ledbetter additionally states the source expects interviews to complete fast and a new coordinator to be named soon.

Vaughn reports simply from a source that passed along the information to Adam Schefter, while Ledbetter is a source with knowledge of teams looking for offensive coordinators. A uninformed guess would probably put that as Koetter himself or perhaps his agent. Either way it at least confirms the Falcons have interest in their former offensive play caller.

Koetter is an interesting choice. He took Matt Ryan to another level after he spent four years under Mike Mularkey. However, Koetter rarely featured a strong running game and has so far ran different blocking schemes, so his fit with Quinn is unclear. If Koetter does get the job, it likely means Ryan has some input in the coaching search.

The Falcons have so far been connected with Bevell, Koetter, and Gary Kubiak.

Update: Vaughn has since confirmed Koetter is in the running, per multiple sources.