The Atlanta Falcons hired Michael Bearden as coaching fellow/offensive assistant on Jan. 30, 2026.

Bearden spent the 2025 season with the Cleveland Browns as part of Cleveland's Bill Willis Coaching Fellowship, working with the team's offense. Prior to Cleveland, Bearden spent two seasons (2024-25) at Notre Dame as the assistant wide receivers coach, helping guide the team to the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship. He also spent training camp with the Chicago Bears as part of the NFL's Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship in 2024. Bearden served in multiple roles at UCLA before heading to South Bend, spending the 2022 season as an analyst for the Bruins before being promoted to assistant special teams coordinator and specialist coach in 2023.

Bearden graduated from Northwestern with a bachelor's degree in education and social policy and worked with the team's defensive backs (2020) and quarterbacks/wide receivers (2021-22) as a student assistant.