{"id":691363,"date":"2026-01-20T14:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/691363\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:43:12","slug":"matthew-bergeron-reacts-to-dwayne-ledford-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/691363\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Bergeron reacts to Dwayne Ledford exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 20, 2026, 6:05 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Atlanta Falcons<\/a> head coach Kevin Stefanski is keeping defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich in place, and while most of the defensive coaches are expected to return, don’t be surprised to see a mostly new offensive staff.<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson likely won’t be given the same courtesy as Ulbrich, and in fact, the team has already made at least one coaching change. According to a report from ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, offensive line coach\/run-game coordinator Dwayne Ledford will not be back next season.<\/p>\n

While Ledford is considered one of the best offensive line coaches in the league, his exit comes as no surprise following an NFL Network report that Bill Callahan<\/a> would be taking over as the team’s new OL coach under Stefanski.<\/p>\n

“Bill Callahan to Atlanta will make Falcons run-game coordinator\/OL coach Dwayne Ledford a free agent,” NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo explained. “Expect significant interest in him elsewhere.”<\/p>\n

That sentiment was shared by Falcons left guard Matthew Bergeron, who posted “smh” in response to the news that Ledford would not be retained. Bergeron’s reaction is warranted considering how well he — and the entire offensive line, really — has played under Ledford over the last few seasons.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ledford was hired by the Falcons in 2021 under former head coach Arthur Smith. He is expected to be one of the most sought-after offensive line coaches available, so don’t be surprised if he lands a job elsewhere in the coming weeks (or days).<\/p>\n

Bergeron has quietly become one of the better left guards in all of football. A former second-round pick, Bergeron played both left and right tackle while in college at Syracuse, but he made the transition to guard seamlessly as a rookie in 2023.<\/p>\n

Aside from bringing in Callahan, Stefanski is expected to hire Tommy Rees as Atlanta’s new offensive coordinator. Stay tuned for more coaching updates as Stefanski fills out his staff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 20, 2026, 6:05 a.m. ET Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski is keeping defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[95878,223,254,2554,224,7,6,96607,96608,95882,96609,95892,100871,95895,95897,95899,95884,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-691363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflfalcons","16":"tag-sstsnfalcons","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagatlanta-falcons","19":"tag-tagespn-inc","20":"tag-tagmatthew-bergeron","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagoverall-negative","23":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","24":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115927961056256875","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}