FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons announced the completion of an interview with Lou Anarumo for the team’s vacant defensive coordinator position Thursday.
The Falcons’ interview with Anarumo is the third they’ve conducted in their search process. Atlanta completed an interview with University of Michigan defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale on Tuesday and New York Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich on Wednesday.
Anarumo, who was born in Atlanta a month before the Falcons’ inaugural season in 1966, has more than a decade of experience coaching in the NFL and has earned a reputation for experimentation and schematic flexibility. Here’s what fans need to know.
Date of interview: Wednesday, Jan. 15
Last stop: Defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals from 2019-24.
- Miami Dolphins (2012-17): After 23 years of coaching at the college level, Anarumo got his first NFL job as the Dolphins’ defensive backs coach. He was named interim defensive coordinator in 2015 after Dan Campbell became Miami’s interim head coach.
- New York Giants (2018): He held the title of defensive backs coach for the Giants.
- Cincinnati Bengals (2019-24): Anarumo became a full-time defensive coordinator for the first time with the Bengals in 2019. He held that position for six seasons before Cincinnati fired him after the 2024 season.
Local connections: The obvious connection between Anarumo and the Falcons is Jessie Bates III, who was drafted by the Bengals in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Anarumo was Bates’ defensive coordinator from his second year in the league through the 2022 season before the safety signed with the Falcons in March 2023.
Prior to Bates hitting the free agency market at that time, he called Anarumo a “mad Italian scientist.”
“Lou does a really good job of having open conversations within our whole entire group,” Bates said in an interview on Jan. 25, 2023. “We call our defensive meeting room our living rooms. Any questions, any gray area, any time things come up, we make sure we have those conversations man-to-man. Lou has done a really good job of creating that family-oriented type of vibe around us. So, it makes it easy to ask those questions and all be on the same page. And it’s worked out pretty well for us.”
Why he’s a candidate: When the Bengals were at the top of the…
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