Atlanta is gambling on a former Tennessee coordinator to fix its issues, despite a disastrous tenure with the Titans.
The Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons have been connected ever since former offensive coordinator Arthur Smith got the head coaching job there.
After two years as the Titans' OC, Smith finally got his chance as a head coach in the NFL with the Falcons in 2021. He had three consecutive 7-10 seasons and was fired, but former Titans kept finding their way to his team during his tenure.
Jonnu Smith, Marcus Mariota, Rashaan Evans, Cameron Batson, Jeremy McNichols, Anthony Firkser, and Beau Brinkley all played for Smith at the Falcons.
Even though Smith is no longer the head coach, former Titans assistants are on the staff.
Kevin Stefanski is now the head coach and has former Titans offensive line coach Bill Callahan on his staff. Bill is Brian Callahan's father, the former Titans HC, and wasn't able to correct the offensive line issues in Nashville over his two-year stint.
The Falcons have hired a new special teams coordinator, and it's someone Titans fans know very well.
Until recently, the special teams in Nashville were a mess.
Before John Fassel, the Titans had Colt Anderson in 2024. Even with Ryan Stonehouse, the Titans allowed the most punt return yards. Only half the kickoffs were touchbacks, and they allowed the second-most yards per kickoff return (32.1).
After a disappointing year on special teams, the Titans fired Anderson in January of 2025.
Before Anderson, there was Craig Aukerman.
Aukerman was the special teams coordinator in 2023, and one game was all it took for the Titans to move on from him. The Titans had two punts blocked in an overtime loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Nick Folk missed what would have been the game-winner, forcing overtime.
On one of the blocked punts, Stonehouse was injured and missed the rest of the year. Stonehouse suffered a broken bone in his leg, a torn ACL, and an MCL, which effectively ended his season.
Aukerman is now in the same role with the Falcons. The Falcons had one of the worst special teams units last season.
Atlanta made just 74.2% of its field goals, which was the second-worst in the league. They also struggled on kick returns, averaging the fewest yards (22.3).
The Falcons also constantly let up big plays on punt returns due to coverage mishaps.
Now, the Falcons are trusting Aukerman to revive their special teams for some reason, despite his track record of poor performances lately.
This is an interesting decision by the Falcons. Going from Marquise Williams to Aukerman could be one of the worst moves of the offseason by the Falcons. If they were looking to improve special teams, why would they go with Aukerman?
Tennessee is in a much better place with Fassel at the helm. He turned things around in one season and played a big part in turning rookie Chimere Dike into a Pro Bowler.
Titans fans will be glad knowing that special teams are in the hands of Fassel and not Aukerman.
