Falcons bring in Rams coordinator fired in 2025

The Atlanta Falcons hired Chase Blackburn as their assistant special teams coach on Wednesday, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, adding a former NFL special teams coordinator and two-time Super Bowl champion to new head coach Kevin Stefanski’s staff. Blackburn, 42, joins the Falcons after serving as the Los Angeles Rams’ special teams coordinator from 2023 until his dismissal on December 20, 2025.

Blackburn’s exit from Los Angeles came with two games remaining in the 2025 regular season following a 38–37 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 16. In that game, the Rams allowed a 58-yard punt return touchdown to wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, a pivotal play in Seattle’s comeback. Kicker Harrison Mevis also missed a 48-yard field goal in the defeat. The win secured home-field advantage in the playoffs for the Seahawks, which went on to win Super Bowl LX.

Blackburn was replaced by Ben Kotwica, and Los Angeles later hired Bubba Ventrone from the Cleveland Browns as their special teams coordinator for 2026. During Blackburn’s time, the Rams’ special teams consistently underperformed, and all the problems finally caught up with them in 2025.

In Atlanta, Blackburn will work under newly hired special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman. The Falcons have also added multiple former coordinators to their coaching staff. The team hired Tanner Engstrand, previously the New York Jets’ offensive coordinator, as offensive passing-game coordinator, and Alex Van Pelt, the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator, as quarterbacks coach. Moreover, Atlanta’s president of football, Matt Ryan, brought in former Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn to join the front office under new GM Ian Cunningham.

Blackburn is no stranger to the NFC South. From 2016 to 2021, he coached the Carolina Panthers. He began as assistant special teams coach, earned a promotion to coordinator in 2018, and continued in that role through 2021. Head coach Matt Rhule retained him in 2020, but the Panthers dismissed him after the 2021 season. He then spent the 2022 season as the Tennessee Titans’ assistant special teams coach before joining the Rams in February 2023.

Before coaching, Blackburn played 10 NFL seasons after entering the league as an undrafted free agent out of Akron in 2005. He appeared in 132 games with 45 starts, recording 372 tackles, 4.5 sacks, four interceptions, 10 pass deflections, six forced fumbles, and five fumble recoveries. He scored one defensive touchdown and added another interception return touchdown earlier in his career. With the New York Giants, where he spent eight seasons, Blackburn won two Super Bowl titles against the New England Patriots. In Super Bowl XLVI, he intercepted Tom Brady in the fourth quarter, the only turnover in a 21–17 victory. He was also elected a team captain in 2010, representing special teams.

Blackburn later signed a two-year contract with Carolina in 2013 and played 19 games, with nine starts, over two seasons, recording 39 combined tackles. Over his NFL career, he piled up 372 tackles and four interceptions.

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