Adam Caplan says it may be a challenge for Atlanta to find coaches, but there are options already within the team with Marquand Manuel and Jeff Ulbrich. (1:46)

Some folks are wondering why the Atlanta Falcons, after making it all the way to the Super Bowl, are going through so many changes with the coaching staff.

Free safety Ricardo Allen put it best while cleaning out his locker on Tuesday.

"There's always change," Allen said. "Every year."

Those changes started with the exit of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan to become San Francisco's head coach. Shanahan takes with him running backs coach Bobby Turner, offensive assistant Mike McDaniel, and perhaps assistant special teams coach Eric Sutulovich, who is one of three candidates to become the 49ers' special teams coordinator. Not to mention quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur, another one of Shanahan's understudies, is headed to Los Angeles to be the Rams' offensive coordinator.

The Falcons immediately filled Shanahan's void with Steve Sarkisian, last the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Falcons coach Dan Quinn feels comfortable with Sarkisian after speaking with both Nick Saban and Seattle coach Pete Carroll, whom Sarkisian worked under at USC. Then Quinn promoted assistant offensive line coach Keith Carter to running backs coach to fill the void left by Turner.

The offensive changes were expected, considering Shanahan's situation. What came as somewhat of a surprise, but not a total shock, was Quinn letting go of defensive coordinator Richard Smith and defensive line coach Bryan Cox. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Quinn took over the defensive play-calling late in the season, when the Falcons showed remarkable improvement on that side of the ball. Smith could be kept in an advisory role, but Cox's dismissal despite noticeable strides made by players such as Grady Jarrett and Ra'Shede Hageman would indicate there is more to the story.

Secondary coach Marquand Manuel appears to be the leading candidate to take over at defensive coordinator, and Manuel was very active in the scheme at season's end. Not to mention Manuel knows Quinn's system, considering he was the assistant defensive backs coach in Seattle when Quinn was the Seahawks' defensive coordinator.

Quinn plans to hire one of his former players, Bryant Young, as the defensive line coach to succeed Cox. Young spent time with the Falcons prior to the 2016 season helping Cox with the defensive line, and Young was the defensive line coach at the University of Florida when Quinn was the defensive coordinator there.

More change could be upcoming. The status of defensive pass-game coordinator Jerome Henderson remains in limbo, with Henderson another internal defensive coordinator candidate for Atlanta and reportedly on Shanahan's radar as a co-defensive coordinator in San Francisco.

Also, Quinn will have to find a quarterbacks coach capable of working in unison with Matt Ryan and Sarkisian, unless Sarkisian handles those duties. His only other NFL job was as the quarterbacks coach for Oakland in 2004.

Regardless of the changes, the overall theme is keeping everything intact. Quinn said the offensive system was in place "100 percent" even before Sarkisian was hired. That means Sarkisian will have to learn the terminology associated with Shanahan's scheme, learn the personnel around it, starting with Ryan, and learn NFL defenses to see the best way to attack.

Defensively, Quinn's stamp has been on the scheme from the beginning. Much of it is based on the Cover 3, which has man-to-man principles with the cornerbacks. But Quinn utilized a lot more man-to-man coverage as the young players in his defense started to develop.

We'll see how the coaching changes affect the Falcons as they try to build on a season that far exceeded expectations.