Falcoholinks: All the Falcons news you need for Friday, Jan. 4

It’s been four days since the Falcons announced they’d be moving on from offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel, and special teams coach Keith Armstrong. Irons are in the fire in the form of interviews with Darrell Bevell, Dirk Koetter, and Mike Mularkey, but still no official word regarding Sark’s replacement. We’ve got all the headlines you may have missed with Friday’s Falcoholinks.

Coordinator carousel

Most of the news has surrounded the aforementioned coaches — and our dream hire, Gary Kubiak — but with NFL hirings comes a lot of smokescreens and disinformation. It’s entirely possible the team is back-channeling with some names we’ve yet to hear, and Cory Woodroof runs down a list of potential darkhorse Sarkisian replacements. During his press conference yesterday, Coach Quinn alluded to coaches currently in the playoffs who they’d like to speak to for the OC vacancy.

One of the biggest takeaways from yesterday’s presser is that Quinn is presumably bringing in a game management coach — something we here at the Falcoholic think is a fantastic idea. With DQ assuming the role of defensive coordinator, a clock consigliere becomes an extremely important role.

A Mayock re-draft

The Raiders continued their conversion of TV personalities into NFL personnel with the promotion of draft analyst Mike Mayock as their GM, so Dave Choate took a look at the composition of the Falcons’ squad if they went with Mike Mayock’s picks instead of Thomas Dimitroff’s. It’s an interesting study, but the comparative picks gives the advantage to Dimitroff.

Quinn signals changes on the O-line

Injuries decimated the Falcons’ offensive line in 2018, but even with that in mind, Dan Quinn is clearly displeased with the level of play. Traditionally guarded with his public criticism, Quinn let loose on 92.9 The Game:

“Scrub every bit of it.” Beefing up the trenches is going to be a priority this offseason, and DQ is not mincing words about his disappointment on the offensive side of the ball. This potentially means the departures of Brandon Fusco, Wes Schweitzer, Ben Garland, and even Ryan Schraeder. Quinn is not pleased.