Raheem Morris named Head Coach of the Atlanta Falcons

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Initially, I was disappointed and underwhelmed. but response, support for the hire has been overwhelmingly positive from league insiders...

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Coaching Staff coming together:

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Why the Raheem Morris hire is a hit within the organization and beyond

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Raheem Morris is back in Atlanta, and, let’s be honest, a lot of people are pretty happy about that.

There are two main reasons. For starters, the 47-year-old former Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator is well liked around the league and had multiple backers in his effort to get a second chance as a head coach in the NFL. And there’s also this: He’s not Bill Belichick.

The Falcons made Morris their 14th full-time head coach Thursday. So, how did they get to the point where hiring a man who is 21-38 as a professional head coach instead of the man who is 15 wins away from becoming the winningest coach in NFL history is considered a win by so many?

The hiring of Morris allows the Falcons to have an eaiser transition, with Fontenot running the personnel department and Morris in charge of coaching and football operations. Morris and Fontenot will report directly to Blank, the Falcons announced Thursday, which is a change from last season when Fontenot and Smith reported to McKay.

Morris, who was 17-31 as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009 to 2011, was part of the superstar coaching staff in Washington from 2012 to 2014 that included Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who also interviewed twice for the Falcons’ head coaching job.

Morris spent three seasons in Los Angeles, including the team’s victory in Super Bowl LVI, but the Rams entered this offseason believing they would lose him. In fact, Rams general manager Les Snead did his best to give Morris a glowing review during his end-of-season news conference.

“No. 1, I think we all know, (he’s a) great human being,” Snead said. “The guy is coded to respect everyone, to build a relationship with everyone no matter where you’re at in the organization. What’s awesome is, as he does that, you just see the respect flow back in his direction. He’s coded for that. It’s a superpower that I think would help any organization.”

Snead said he expects Morris to bring an “unbelievable” coaching staff to Atlanta.

“He’s going to give any organization an edge just how collaborative he is,” Snead said. “It’s going to be an edge that most teams aren’t going to be able to compete with. Every coach who’s any good, who’s qualified, they’re going to want to work for Raheem. And I’m pretty sure there’ll be a lot of tampering charges because just about every player in the NFL’s going to text him and want to come play for him.”

Spoiler:

Though Morris’ resume is much less impressive than Belichick’s, he’s also likely to be a hit with Falcons fans, many of whom were concerned about Belichick’s handling of the Patriots’ quarterback situation after the departure of Tom Brady and Belichick’s 29-38 record in the last four seasons.

“This is a historic day for the Atlanta Falcons – after a comprehensive search we are thrilled to welcome Raheem Morris back to Atlanta as the team’s new head coach,” Blank said. “With 26 years of experience in the NFL, including the last three in an outstanding organization that has won our league’s championship in that time, Raheem emerged from a field of excellent candidates and is the right leader to take our team into the future. His time in L.A. has given him an enhanced perspective on everything from personnel, team operations, game planning, working with an outstanding offensive staff and many other things that has helped him develop into an even more prepared coach in all aspects of the game. I believe his leadership skills have grown and his understanding of what it takes to have a highly collaborative one-team culture are now at a much higher level.”

The Athletic

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The Atlanta Falcons have hired former Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach Jimmy Lake as their defensive coordinator under Raheem Morris, the team announced Monday.

Lake spent just one year in Los Angeles and has spent most of the last decade in the college ranks. Before joining the Rams, he served as Washington's head coach in 2020 and 2021.

Lake and Morris have a history of working together even before their time in Los Angeles. The two coached alongside one another for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2007 and again with the Bucs in 2010 to 2011.

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