The Falcons sent shockwaves throughout the NFL world Thursday night when it was announced Raheem Morris will be the next head coach in Atlanta.
Falcons plan to hire Rams’ defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their head coach, per sources. pic.twitter.com/qlz3PbgEtJ
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 25, 2024
The reason it was a surprising move isn’t necessarily because Raheem Morris isn’t a deserving candidate. He’s done everything he could to earn the opportunity after he was passed over by the Falcons ahead of the 2021 season. It’s notable because the Falcons spurned Bill Belichick.
Since the beginning of the hiring process, the Falcons were heavily connected to the coach many consider the greatest of all time. Arthur Blank seemed dead set on his target, and at a point, it looked like he was destined to coach in Atlanta, but somewhere along the line things changed, as Dianna Russini of The Athletic pointed out.
There are layers to the hiring in Atlanta. Arthur Blank was targeting the greatest coach of all time from the start.
He was then open to listening to others ideas. Some internal persuasion, impressive interviews, and here we are.
Belichick is unemployed. Raheem gets his shot.— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) January 25, 2024
From numerous reports, we know Bill Belichick had no interest in working with Rich McKay. If the Falcons were to hire Belichick, they would be bringing in a lot more than just one guy. An entire entourage was to come with him, which would have put the jobs of Rich McKay and potentially Terry Fontenot in danger.
Arthur Blank’s relationship with Rich McKay has been well documented. He’s one of his closest friends, and somehow, he weaseled his way back into football operations a few years ago. There’s no question McKay has been pulling strings for quite some time now, and Blank wasn’t eager to let him go, for whatever reason.
That internal struggle led to the Falcons seriously evaluating other candidates. NFL Network’s James Palmer also notes that the fact Bill Belichick was not garnering interest from other teams served as a red flag.
It just started to feel that the #falcons, who began to compile work on Belichick a little over half way through the season, saw no one else looking at Belichick and also interviewed other candidates and reset their search.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 25, 2024
Despite Arthur Blank’s admiration for Bill Belichick, the fit between the two sides never made much sense.
Belichick is a defensive coach, and the Falcons biggest issues lie on the other side of the ball, with their most significant one being the quarterback position, an area Belichick has botched since Tom Brady left New England. Belichick’s age also had to be taken into consideration. At most, he was probably going to coach for another 3-4 years, and the Falcons don’t exactly have a roster primed for a Super Bowl run immediately.
With that being said, how much those factors weighed into Blank’s decisions is unknown. What’s most likely is the Falcons owner didn’t want to let go of Rich McKay knowing that Belichick wasn’t going to be around for very long. The fact that McKay’s presence had any impact on the direction the Falcons went is worrisome, and unfortunately, it was likely the deciding factor.
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Photo: Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire
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