INDIANAPOLIS — The Atlanta Falcons were in the midst of their formal interviews with defensive players at the 2026 NFL Combine when Kevin Stefanski heard a pen scratching across a page. It wasn't his own, which had paused in his hand at the sound.
The Falcons were running through linebacker interviews. Up at the front of the room, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud were running through some coverage looks with a prospect, quizzing his knowledge and understanding what makes him tick. The scratching sound continued, though, drawing Stefanski's eyes to the source of the sound.
Matt Ryan was furiously scribbling beside him. Looking at Ryan's creation, Stefanski saw it mimicked his own.
"Matt was doing what I was doing," Stefanski said, "which was when they were talking about the coverage we were thinking about ways to attack the coverage. So, Matt is scribbling some plays over there, very similar to me. You are listening, but you can't turn off the Xs and Os brain. It's just impossible."
Funny enough, this moment actually brought back another memory.
It was February 2008. Stefanski was one year away from becoming the Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks coach. At that 2008 scouting combine, he was in his final year of being the assistant to head coach Brad Childress. He was in the formal interview room that year as prospect after prospect walked in and interviewed for the Vikings' No. 15 overall pick, which ended up not being Minnesota's pick at all as it was traded away that April when the Vikings acquired defensive end Jared Allen.
Still, the Vikings were doing their due diligence at the combine that year, interviewing some of the highest graded individuals of the class.
That's when a tall quarterback from Boston College walked in.
Matt Ryan.
Eighteen years after Stefanski first watched Ryan walk into a combine interview room as a prospect trying to prove he deserved a top draft spot he ultimately earned, the two now sit side by side, pens in hand, evaluating the next wave of hopefuls. Back then, Ryan was being tested on how he saw the game. In Indianapolis this week, he's helping shape how the Falcons will play it.
At the NFL Combine — where careers begin and futures pivot — Stefanski was once in a room watching as coaches judged whether Ryan could process a defense. Now, he watches the former franchise quarterback diagram ways to beat one.
The pens are still scratching. The stakes are just different.
And as the Falcons attempt to ace their first draft cycle together, the symmetry isn't lost on Stefanski: The quarterback who once "aced" his own combine interview is now helping run the room — still thinking two steps ahead, and still unable to turn off his Xs and Os brain.
Only this time, he's not trying to earn a job.
He's building one.
