The Atlanta Falcons have hired Bob Sutton as a defensive assistant under head coach Dan Quinn, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Quinn will serve as the de facto defensive coordinator, but Sutton will help him.
Sutton spent the 2018 campaign as the Kansas City Chiefs' defensive coordinator, a position he had held since 2013.
However, following the Chiefs' AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots last month, players and coaches became frustrated with Sutton's lack of adjustments, which had apparently been nothing new. As a result, he was fired.
Kansas City finished just 31st in the NFL in total defense this past season, and in 2017, it finished 28th.
Sutton earned his first NFL coaching job in 2000 when he took over as linebackers coach for the New York Jets. He held that post through 2005 before being named the Jets' defensive coordinator for the 2006 campaign.
The 68-year-old spent three seasons as New York's defensive play-caller before being demoted in 2009, where he then began serving as a linebackers coach and a senior defensive assistant.
Then, in 2012, Sutton served as assistant head coach in addition to his linebacker coaching duties.
He landed with the Chiefs the following season.
The Falcons are coming off of a 2018 campaign in which they won just seven games and failed to look all that competitive at any one point during the season.
Prior to this past season, Atlanta had made back-to-back playoff appearances, including the 2015-16 campaign in which it made it all the way to the Super Bowl before blowing a 28-3 lead in an eventual loss to the Patriots.
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