Atlanta Falcons add former Kansas City DC Bob Sutton to staff

The Falcons have hired former Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton to be their in-game and clock management senior assistant coach, the team announced on Monday.

He was fired as Kansas City's defensive coordinator following the season after six years.

The Falcons had expected Kyle Flood to serve in the newly created role, but he left to join Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama.

“Calling the defense, spending the extra time to get that right, and making sure our style and identity come across in the right way are exciting challenges,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said in a statement released by the team. “Adding someone with Bob’s knowledge and experience to assist with clock and game-management strategies will help us be the best version of the Falcons that we can be in 2019.”

The Chiefs dismissed Sutton after losing the AFC title game to New England.

“Bob is a good football coach and a great person,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said in a statement released by the team on Jan. 22. “He played an integral role in the success of our team over the last six seasons. I’ve said before that change can be a good thing, for both parties, and I believe that is the case here for the Chiefs and Bob. This was not an easy decision, but one I feel is in the best interest of the Kansas City Chiefs moving forward.”

Sutton, 68, is a coaching veteran with 20 years at the NFL level.

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With Quinn taking on the play-calling duties of the defense, he wanted to add some administrative in-game help on the coaching staff.

This is the latest move in Quinn’s retooling his coaching staff after he fired all three coordinators on Dec. 31 after the 7-9 season.

The Falcons had previously announced that Dirk Koetter would replace Steve Sarkisian as the offensive coordinator, that Ben Kotwica would replace Keith Armstrong as the special teams coordinator and that Mike Mularkey would replace Wade Harman as the tight ends coach.

Mularkey and offensive line coach Chris Morgan will work together to improve the unit’s blocking.

In other moves, running backs coach Bernie Parmalee was moved, in a demotion, to the assistant special teams position.

Dave Brock was moved from assistant wide receivers coach to running backs coach in a promotion.

Koetter (2012-14) and Mularkey (2008-11) are previous coordinators with the Falcons and have worked closely with quarterback Matt Ryan.

Before joining the Chiefs, Sutton was with the Jets for 13 seasons in a variety of roles. He was the defensive coordinator for the Jets when Quinn was on his staff in 2007 and 2008 as the defensive line coach.

Before his stint with the Jets, Sutton was the defensive coordinator at the United States Military Academy from 1983-90 before being named head coach in 1991. His nine-year run as head coach placed him second in coaching tenure at West Point, trailing only the legendary Earl "Red" Blaik, who guided the Cadets for 18 seasons.

During his time at Army, the team topped Navy five straight years (1992-96) and won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy in 1996.

That same year, Sutton was named the Bobby Dodd coach of the year and was a finalist for the Bear Bryant coach of the year award.

He also coached in the college ranks at North Carolina State, Western Michigan, Illinois and Syracuse.

He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Bo Schembechler at Michigan.

This article was written by D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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