According to Tom Pelissero, the Falcons are hiring Rams DC Raheem Morris as their next head coach.
This qualifies as a major surprise and the biggest bombshell of the hiring cycle so far.
After being heavily linked to former Patriots HC Bill Belichick, Atlanta decided to pivot and expand the search this week. Now, they landed on the coach who was the interim for them the last time they fired a head coach.
The Falcons passed on promoting Morris to the full-time gig last time. Now, they’re circling back.
Morris, 47, began coaching at Hofstra as a graduate assistant back in 1998. He later took his first NFL coaching job with the Buccaneers as their defensive quality control coach and managed to work his way up to head coach in 2009.
The Buccaneers fired Morris after three seasons. He spent a few years with Washington before the Falcons hired him as their assistant head coach/DBs coach in 2015. After being let go with the rest of the coaching staff in 2020, he was hired by the Rams as their defensive coordinator.
As the Buccaneers head coach, Morris led the team to a record of 17-31 (35.4 percent) over the course of three seasons. In 2020, Morris led the Falcons to a 4-7 record after taking over for Dan Quinn midseason.
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Falcons got to have someone that Rich McKay can control They will ALWAYS be LOSERS, UNTIL they get free of RICH MCKAY! PERIOD! That’s why they didn’t pick Belichick, and Harbaugh was just using them for leverage!!