Kevin Stefanski is reportedly favorite to land the Atlanta Falcons job with John Harbaugh set to become head coach of the New York Giants.
Both Stefanski and Harbaugh are riding the NFL coaching carousel this month after being fired by the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens respectively, having failed to secure playoff berths for their teams in 2025.
The Browns and the Ravens were not alone in dismissing their head coaches at the end of the regular season, with the Falcons among seven teams who dropped the axe after Week 18.
Following the firing of Raheem Morris, new Atlanta president Matt Ryan held interviews with Stefanski and Harbaugh – as did Giants GM Joe Schoen.
And according to NFL reporter Connor Hughes, Stefanski is the leading candidate to become Falcons head coach as Harbaugh closes in on a move to New York.
The 43-year-old will be walking into one of the NFL’s hottest head coach vacancies if he does indeed take charge at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Fired Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski is favorite to land the Atlanta Falcons job
Stefanski’s rumored move comes as John Harbaugh (pictured) prepares to join the Giants
Despite finishing 8-9 and failing to make the postseason for the eighth straight year, the Falcons ended the year with a fourth straight win when they defeated the New Orleans Saints 19-17 in Morris’ final game.
They were left in a three-way tie with Carolina and Tampa Bay for first place in the NFC South but the Panthers won the tiebreaker with the best record within the division.
Stefanski will have a promising young quarterback to call upon in Michael Penix Jr, who was drafted in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft shortly after Atlanta signed free agent Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal.
Cousins, who lost his place as a starter to Penix before the latter’s season-ending injury, still has two seasons and a around $115m in base salary, bonuses and incentives heading his way. Only about $67.5m of that total is guaranteed.
However, his massive contract was restructured recently, giving the Falcons a chance to waive him in early March and spread his remaining guaranteed salary over the 2026 and 2027 seasons, thereby offering themselves some salary-cap relief.
Stefanski was fired in Cleveland after his sixth season in charge of the Browns saw them go 5-12 and miss out on a postseason berth for the fourth time in five years.
Across his six seasons at the helm, he went 45-56 while only putting up a winning record in two of them.
