Falcons OC Kyle Shanahan might be a hot head-coaching candidate this offseason

A few months ago you could have found some folks who figured the Atlanta Falcons would be moving on from offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan if things didn’t improve this season.

Now it appears like Shanahan might be moving on from the Falcons.

In Shanahan’s second year running the Falcons’ offense, everything is clicking. That was on display Thursday night in a blowout 43-28 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Shanahan’s zone-blocking scheme has turned Devonta Freeman into one of the NFL’s best backs (and Tevin Coleman, who was out on Thursday night, is pretty good too). Quarterback Matt Ryan seems to be locked in with the scheme this season. Ryan should be the NFL’s MVP if the vote happened right now, and he was excellent again in carving up the Buccaneers. He had 344 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Ryan, whose career-best in passer rating for a season is 99.1, is 119 after nine games.

The only problem having an offense this good – the Falcons ranked first in the NFL in yards per game and yards per play heading into Week 9 – is that the coordinator might get poached by another team looking for a new head coach. Shanahan will be in that conversation next offseason.

Shanahan obviously has the bloodlines to be a head coach. He’s the son of two-time Super Bowl championship coach Mike Shanahan. Even though he’ll turn just 37 years old in December he has plenty of experience. He has been an NFL assistant since 2004 and an offensive coordinator since 2008. His best season was probably 2012, when he and his father devised an offense to get the most out of Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. Griffin won offensive rookie of the year and Washington won the NFC East.

This season might end up even better for him. He is maximizing all the talent in the Falcons’ offense. Shanahan called a great game Thursday night, whether it was was creative play-calling to get Julio Jones the ball, a jet sweep to Taylor Gabriel for an easy touchdown and a third-and-goal rub route that got tight end Austin Hooper wide open on a slant for Ryan’s fourth touchdown pass.

The trend in the NFL is to hire offensive coaches. Last offseason seven NFL teams hired a new head coach, and all seven were offensive coaches. It makes sense because the most important thing in the game is quarterback development. If Ryan continues on this pace he’s going to finish with some MVP votes, and that will look very good on Shanahan’s resume. It’s easy to imagine Shanahan being hired this offseason to turn around, say, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles.

But those are conversations for down the road. Right now the Falcons are 6-3, in control of the NFC South, and they look like one of the better teams in a conference without any great teams. If the Falcons’ diverse, talented offense keeps this up, they’ll be a tough out in the playoffs.

And if the Falcons keep going on this path, Shanahan might soon be welcomed into the head-coaching fraternity. He should be one of the hottest names in the carousel this offseason, especially if any team that will need a new head coach was watching on Thursday night.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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