With that vision in place, the committee — which was lead by Ryan — set forth to find a coach whose own philosophy matched. Throughout the interview process, Ryan said, Stefanski separated himself.
“He separated himself, No. 1, in the alignment of vision for the football team,” Ryan said. “He wants smart, tough, highly competitive players and coaches that are open to being held accountable and holding each other accountable.”
For Stefanski, he’s isn’t one to simply talk about the vision. And that’s why the Falcons liked him.
“The easy thing is to talk about it,” Stefanski said. “It’s very, very easy to sit up here and talk about it. We will be about that work. We will put in the work, and it’s going to be hard work. We’ll put in the work to being a smart football team, to playing a smart brand of football. We will earn that toughness. I believe that physicality and playing this style of football is earned, and we will earn that.”
So, how do the Falcons ultimately arrive at a vision fulfilled? Well, there’s still much work to be done.
“We’re in the beginning,” Ryan said, referring to the fact the Falcons still have an ongoing search for a general manager taking place.
“… But you get started with one step, and it’s solid step, after solid step, after solid step. We have an idea of where we want to go, the path to get there. One of the things Kevin has talked about is when you have the map and the terrain, and the terrain differs from the map, you go with the terrain. So, we’ve got a vision of where we’re going to go, but we know there are going to be bumps along the way, and you’ve got to be able to adjust and adapt to those things.”
That process begins with the evaluation of the current roster. Once the general manager is hired — whomever that may be — that’s when he, Ryan and Stefanski will sit down and go through it from top to bottom.
For the time being, the vision — the map — is set. Soon, a new trio at the leadership level will navigate the NFL terrain.