Bill Belichick was a leading candidate to be the Atlanta Falcons’ next head coach, but the team ultimately decided to hire Raheem Morris instead.
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank has revealed that he was seriously considering hiring Bill Belichick as head coach.
Despite this, he did not give him the job. After Arthur Smith was released, the Falcons interviewed legendary former New England Patriots head coach Belichick twice, and he was the leading candidate for the role.
However, they surprised everyone by selecting Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. Blank told Sports Illustrated why Belichick wasn’t the right fit for the Falcons and why he chose Morris to replace him after Smith missed the playoffs in his third year leading the team.
“We had 14 candidates. We always wanted him. All the issues and questions about Bill regarding the power structure are completely unfounded, false and baseless,” he said. “It was,” he said.
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Belichick may be leaving New England and away from football after 21 seasons in Foxboro, where he won a record-breaking six Super Bowl championships after failing to land a head coaching job.
Blank, who is likely to be the first name on the team’s list looking for a new head coach in 2025 and has spent time with him, is under no illusions that Belichick will return.
“I think Bill will coach again. I don’t know, but the energy is there, the passion is there. When we weighed Raheem, we felt a lot of different reasons.” [Morris] To everyone, he was just the best choice for us. ”
“You’re talking about an NFL historian who coached in the NFL for 49 years, was with one organization for 24 years and won six Super Bowls.
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You’ll learn about what they and he did to achieve such success, how the league and players have changed, what hasn’t changed, and the requirements for his success going forward. ”
“I think he would be a good candidate for someone else… It wasn’t the best fit for us.”
Morris, the Falcons’ new head coach, joined the team in 2015 as an assistant head coach and worked with the defensive backs.
Morris moved to wide receivers coach in 2016 and became defensive coordinator in 2020. He also served as interim head coach after Dan Quinn was fired.