Falcons to hire Morris as coach
Raheem Morris’ long-awaited second chance has apparently arrived.
The Atlanta Falcons plan to hire the longtime NFL coach, most recently the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator, as their new head man, according to multiple reports.
The opportunity comes to Morris 13 years after his three-year run leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who hired him at the age of 32 in 2009. He went 17-31 in Tampa and did not reach the playoffs.
ESPN was the first to report this development.
Morris, who’s admitted in retrospect he wasn’t quite ready for the Bucs job, has spent the last decadeplus preparing for another shot. He’s continued forging his long-held reputation as a leader whom players will go to the mat for. There’s also a familiarity factor as he served as Atlanta’s interim coach in 2020 after Dan Quinn was fired following an 0-5 start. The team went 4-7 with Morris the rest of the way.
The moves comes as a bit of a surprise given how widely linked Falcons owner Arthur Blank, 81, was linked to former New England Patriots legend Bill Belichick, winner of six Super Bowls. Atlanta has never won a Lombardi Trophy in its 58 seasons.
But in a win on the league’s diversity front, Morris, who is Black, was hired on the same day that the division rival Carolina Panthers hired MexicanAmerican Dave Canales as their new head man.
The NFL has long been criticized for the lack of minorities who occupy key leadership positions throughout the league, but this offseason has marked a possible turning point.