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Report: Atlanta Falcons to hire Dan Quinn

Dec 21, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; A Atlanta Falcons helmet rest on the field prior to the game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 21, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; A Atlanta Falcons helmet rest on the field prior to the game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Falcons are one of the last teams to find a head coach, but their wait will likely lead them to hiring Dan Quinn. 

With every other team having filled their head coaching vacancy, all eyes have now moved to Atlanta as the Falcons are the last team to be without a head coach as the Super Bowl approaches. Candidates like Rex Ryan, Todd Bowles and even John Fox are off the board but the Falcons know who they want after all this waiting.

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Despite missing out on Rex Ryan, who many thought the Falcons would hire, Atlanta has set their sights on another stout defensive coach in Dan Quinn of the Seattle Seahawks. According to Ian Rapoport from NFL Network, the Falcons are prepared to hire the Seahawks defensive coordinator as soon as they can.

“Seahawks are expecting to lose Dan Quinn to Falcons, who have privately told people their plan is to hire him,” Rapoport reported on Sunday afternoon. “They’ll meet Monday.”

Quinn wasn’t able to be hired thanks to his run with the Seattle Seahawks again and teams were unwilling to wait for him to become available before filling their vacancies. That’s to the benefit of the Falcons though, as they’re the last team standing without a head coach but they have a mainline to Quinn now that there’s no competition anywhere else.

This also leaves options like Mike Shanahan and others open to the Falcons but their sights are set on Quinn. It was believed that Dan Quinn might have become a head coach after last season but he passed on jobs in Cleveland and elsewhere to stay in Seattle for the 2014 season.

That’s a gamble that paid off as he coached the Seahawks defense to another Super Bowl berth in two straight years.

But the time is now for Quinn to strike while the iron is still hot and the Falcons job will be waiting for him whenever he decides he wants it this offseason.

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