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After Bill Belichick agreed to part ways with the New England Patriots after more than two decades, all signs pointed to the legendary head coach becoming the new leader on the sideline for the Atlanta Falcons to replace Arthur Smith, who was fired right after the team’s season came to an end.
Even though all signs were pointing to Belichick continuing his NFL career with the Falcons, especially with two interviews in the books with the team, Atlanta chose to go in a different direction on Thursday.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Falcons will hire former Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris to be Smith’s successor in Atlanta via Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team.
Breaking: The #Falcons are hiring #Rams DC Raheem Morris as their new HC, per @AdamSchefter. The once interim head coach in Atlanta now gets the full time job.
And this means no Belichick in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/EZ8w6tTnsv
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 25, 2024
This was a surprising move, to say the least, as it seemed like the team wanted to make a major splash, considering the fact they brought in big-name head coaches like Belichick, Jim Harbaugh, and Mike Vrabel for multiple interviews.
However, Morris was able to beat them to the punch, even though Harbaugh recently agreed to become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, which wasn’t all that surprising.
Morris became the team’s top choice after the franchise interviewed 14 candidates for the head coaching vacancy in Atlanta.
Clearly, longtime owner Arthur Blank and the team’s front office wanted to get the right person for the job and were willing to do their due diligence throughout the process.
Although it may not be the splashy move that was anticipated, the Falcons are now able to start fresh with someone the team is familiar with, as Morris was with the organization from 2016 through 2020.
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