National Football League

Chip Kelly may be a candidate to replace Kyle Shanahan with the Falcons

Published Jan. 22, 2017 3:11 p.m. ET

Dan Graf

All signs point to the San Francisco 49ers hiring Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan as head coach when Atlanta’s season is over, and it turns out that could touch off a coaching swap of sorts.

FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer reported on “FOX NFL Sunday” (at about the 1:15 mark in the video above) that recently fired 49ers head coach Chip Kelly is one of three candidates to replace Shanahan as Atlanta’s coordinator.

Whomever replaces Shanahan will have big shoes to fill. Atlanta ranked first in the NFL in scoring at 33.3 points per game and was second behind New Orleans in total yards. Kelly would be an interesting choice because he has a particular style of offense that doesn’t necessarily line up with what has made Atlanta so successful this season.

This will be one of the more interesting coordinator hires this offseason.