Steelers hiring fired Falcons head coach to run offense

The Pittsburgh Steelers are hiring former Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith to become their new offensive coordinator, NFL Network reported Tuesday.

The Steelers fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada on Nov. 21 and had quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan and running backs coach Eddie Faulkner shared the duties temporarily.

Smith was fired by the Falcons after this season; the team was 7–10 in all three seasons under

Smith. Before leading the Falcons, Smith was offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans.

Smith will be joining a Steelers team that went 10–7 and earned a wildcard berth. He likely will have Kenny Pickett at quarterback, although coach Mike Tomlin and owner Art Rooney II have discussed having Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph compete for the job.

Pittsburgh ranked 28th in points among the NFL’s 32 teams this season and was 25th in offensive yardage.

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Lions: Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson will return next season, despite interest from the Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks, who are looking to hire head coaches, multiple outlets reported.

Johnson, 37, led an offense that totaled the third-most yards and fifthmost points in 2023.

Johnson worked was a Dolphins assistant coach in several roles from 2012 through 2018.

Chargers: Baltimore Ravens personnel director Joe Hortiz is set to become Los Angeles’ general manager, multiple outlets reported. Hortiz, 48, served in his current role with the Ravens since 2019. Baltimore’s coach since 2008 has been John Harbaugh, the brother of recently named Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh.

Teaming with former Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome and current Ravens GM Eric DeCosta, Hortiz helped shape two Super Bowl championship teams and a club that went an NFL-best 13-4 this season before losing to Kansas City on Sunday in the AFC title game.

Tom Telesco was the Chargers’ GM until Dec. 15, when he and coach

Brandon Staley were fired after a 63-21 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders dropped Los Angeles’ record to 5-9.

Chiefs: Defensive end

Charles Omenihu suffered a torn ACL in the AFC title game Sunday, so he’ll miss the Super Bowl against San Francisco, the team for which he played in 2021 and part of 2022. After serving a six-game suspension to open the season, Omenihu, 26, became part of the defensive end rotation and recorded a career-high seven sacks in just 11 games. He played just six snaps Sunday with

George Karlaftis and

Mike Danna getting the majority of the snaps.

Falcons: The team announced Zac Robinson as its new offensive coordinator and Jimmy Lake as new defensive coordinator. Both were on the Los Angeles Rams staff of

Raheem Morris, the recently named Atlanta head coach. Robinson, 37, most recently was passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Lake, 47, was the University of Washington’s head coach in 2020-21. He was the Rams’ assistant head coach for 2023.