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The Falcons pulled in a big name at defensive coordinator. And they did not just pull him out of the names of hot coaches. They pulled him out of retirement.
Dean Pees, a veteran defensive coordinator with stops with the New England Patriots, the Baltimore Ravens, and most recently the Tennessee Titans, is returning to the game to help turn around the Atlanta Falcons’ problematic defense. Pees, who worked with current head coach Arthur Smith, has decades of experience coaching up top defenses.
As it turns out, there was competition for the then-retired coach. Mike Vrabel tried to bring him back to the Titans.
My understanding is that #Titans' Vrabel did reach out to Pees to see if he wanted to come out of retirement and return to the team.
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) January 21, 2021
-Pees made the choice to go to Atlanta. May well be bringing his son Matt, a former Titans quality control assistant, with him.
It is big news that Pees decided to work with the Falcons and Smith over his home in his last few seasons in the NFL. It also goes to show you how well respected Pees was to Vrabel, who obviously struggled replacing Pees.
It may have helped that Matt Pees is expected to join the Falcons, but regardless, this is big news that the Falcons landed both a veteran coach like Pees and were not beat out by the Titans, a team that was just in the playoffs. With Atlanta landing a number of top coaches this offseason, there is a strong chance the team was not as undesirable as many national analysts presumed.