Arthur Blank and Atlanta’s search committee landed on Raheem Morris, passing over Bill Belichick, to be the Falcons head coach.
The owner has told us what drove the team to reject Belichick, and based on Blank’s statement, it has nothing to do with internal issues. Morris was the one who turned the Falcons away from Belichick.
During an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Arthur Blank discussed what set Morris apart from the other twelve potential head coach candidates.
“The experience we had with him in Atlanta was great. It was six years, obviously a lot of success during that time, didn’t end that way, but a lot of success during that time,” Blank said.
The club’s new head coach is well-known to many Falcons employees; in fact, he revealed that Rich McKay had hired him four times previously.
“Spent a lot of time on offense, defense, great leader. Coaches loved him, players loved him,” Blank continued.
Morris worked as a defensive coordinator, interim head coach, receiver and secondary coach during his initial tenure with the Falcons. That’s a lot of hats to wear and a wealth of expertise to be carrying around like a CEO.
Raheem Morris’ capacity to establish a connection with anyone was one of his strongest points as a candidate. News of his hiring was welcomed by coaches and players alike, and he promptly took advantage of those connections to entice Zac Robinson to Atlanta rather than the other six teams that had openings at offensive coordinator.
“What I saw in the three years he was in L.A. is I think he grew a lot professionally from his relationship with coach [Sean] McVay, their coaching style, their coaching structure, organizationally, as well as working with Les [Snead],” Blank continued. “The level of collaboration that I think’s unique between Les and Sean and building their roster.”
Raheem At LA Rams
It’s not absurd, in my opinion, to argue that Raheem Morris’ three years as the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams were more beneficial than his three years as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.One of the top head coach-general manager teams in the NFL is Sean McVay and Les Snead. It would be odd to not be envious of that dynamic. With Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot, the Falcons appear to have some form hope, but a news conference at the start of the season is very different than a full offseason and season.
“I think he learned skills that weren’t fully developed when he left us in Atlanta. I could see that during the interview process, just thinking about how to build a coaching staff that would be sustainable if we were losing coaches in the future because of success. I’m excited about him,” Blank finished.
The Falcons owner is clearly high on Raheem Morris, and he should be. Without even being in the room, I felt energized and hopeful while watching Morris’ press conference. Though if the Falcons fail to reach the postseason in 2024, the same questions that arose around Arthur Smith will begin to be raised for Morris.