The story manages to fill in some of the blanks about Atlanta’s process.
For a brief moment, Bill Belichick to the Atlanta Falcons felt inevitable. And then, just as suddenly, it was impossible.
The Falcons’ coaching search feels like it happened a small lifetime ago, but in reality it was just a few short months ago. The feverish reporting that the Falcons were interested in Belichick and Blank was enamored with him gave way to a Raheem Morris hire, and one of the greatest living coaches in NFL history wound up without a job in this hiring cycle.
You’re probably tired of hearing about it by now—I know I’m tired of reporters and league analysts taking the occasional potshot at the Falcons for not hiring Morris, a coach I’m quite excited about—but ESPN dropped a big story this morning from Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham, and Jeremy Fowler that shades in why Belichick wasn’t hired by the Falcons or any other team. It offers an interesting glimpse into the team’s search, and how Belichick ultimately found himself looking for a job as an analyst rather than a coach this offseason.
How Belichick quickly fell out of favor
As I suspected at the time, the early reporting was accurate about the mutual interest from both sides. Bill Belichick left a meeting on Arthur Blank’s yacht feeling the meeting had gone well, and so did Blank, who reportedly was mulling the legendary head coach if he became available before the season even ended. From the perspective of Belichick, it was looking good, and Blank’s interest clearly drove subsequent reporting that he was the guy.
In a lengthy interview with Blank, Belichick showed no rust, sources said. Blank told colleagues that he was very impressed. “I think Blank came away from the boat thinking this is my guy,” a source close to Belichick said, though from his vantage point, any momentum following that meeting seemed to die over the next week. A second meeting was planned with team CEO Rich McKay and other Falcons executives.
Many people, worried and elated, were guilty of jumping the gun about a potential hire, including a certain fearful blogger here. But it was not exactly clear why things changed so rapidly in the coming days and before Belichick even interviewed for the second time, which is something this story helps clear up.
One factor was Morris. The Falcons had Morris in the building after 2020, when he stepped in as the interim head coach, but did not appear to seriously consider him for the job then. This time, having won a Super Bowl and having become one of the Rams’ most beloved coaches, he simply killed his interview and emerged as a leading candidate. His vision for the team and willingness to work with Terry Fontenot helped push him over the top, and considering no one would’ve suggested that he was heading into this process as the favorite, it’s a testament to who Morris is and what he brings to the table that he rocketed to the top of the team’s rankings so quickly.
But inside Falcons headquarters, Morris was the leader after he “blew away” his interview and energized the organization with his enthusiasm, ideas and deep football knowledge, both in terms of personnel and strategy.
Another factor was the power structure. As we all suspected and ESPN reports, neither Terry Fontenot or Rich McKay were enamored with the idea of working with Belichick, both because of the way he would influence the larger organization and the specter of having him clear out staff and forcing the organization to start over again in a couple of years when Belichick might elect to retire.
Those concerns were likely sharpened, even for Blank, when Belichick apparently made it clear that he was going back to the well with the familiar cast of assistant coaches that have earned so much derision around the league and from fans in recent years. One source indicated to ESPN that the Falcons would have, from a coaching perspective, looked like vintage Patriots South.
The source close to Belichick said the coach had concerns about the Falcons’ roster and would have needed his most trusted former assistants to execute a quick turnaround. He told one confidant that the Patriots’ lackluster performance in recent years was because some of those former assistants had left.
While Belichick obviously said all the right things to Blank early on, it wasn’t enough to overcome the disquiet team brass felt about how the notoriously headstrong coach would fit into the organization and run the Falcons.
And in the pair of interviews with Blank and Falcons executives, sources said, Belichick pledged his willingness to co-exist with Falcons executives under this new paradigm. In fact, he insisted he just wants to coach. But the Falcons realized that if you hire Bill Belichick, you hire all of him, an entire philosophy and ethos stemming from one man’s ethic and ingenuity, sources said.
In the end, his assurances failed to persuade Blank and team executives. “He was essentially voted off the island,” a source close to the Falcons’ hiring process said.
The final piece of the puzzle is a bit of a surprising one. Per ESPN and despite denials all the way around, Blank’s good friend Robert Kraft did not have glowing things to say about Belichick. The Patriots owner clearly soured on Belichick in recent years, something a raft of reporting this offseason has suggested, but it appears that Blank’s initial enthusiasm petered out a little bit after talking to Kraft, gauging how team brass felt, and sitting down for a second interview with Belichick. In the kaleidoscope of opinions and denials in this piece, it seems evident that Kraft said something that didn’t help Belichick out with Blank.
But in a conversation with Blank, Kraft delivered a stark assessment of Belichick’s character, according to a source who spoke to two people: a close Kraft friend and a longtime Belichick confidant. The source quoted the Belichick source as saying, “Robert called Arthur to warn him not to trust Bill.” That account was backed up, the source said, by the close Kraft friend.
Multiple sources said that Kraft spoke with “some candor” to Blank about Belichick, though the sources declined to elaborate. One source close to Belichick said Kraft “was a big part” of why the Falcons passed on hiring him.
In totality, the team’s willingness and ability to go through a longer list of candidates rather than just cursory interviews before snapping up Belichick changed Blank’s early enthusiasm, and it let the concerns about the coach overtake the excitement as Blank talked to Kraft and team executives had their chance to weigh in. That same process played out elsewhere with less public interest and courtship, where the Eagles and Cowboys declined to fire coaches to snag Belichick and teams like the Panthers and Commanders elected to go in different directions.
Ultimately, it appears Belichick struck out with the Falcons and a host of other teams because his reputation preceded him, and that reputation made franchises fearful he’d be a short-term salve who might blow up an organization without delivering the kind of success that made him a legend in New England.
Raheem Morris, Mike Macdonald, and Bobby Slowik, in that order
The reporting also indicates that Morris was, as the team has suggested, a unanimous top choice. I’ve seen plenty of reporting and rumor mongering indicating otherwise, but
What Blank didn’t say is that he and his top lieutenants had voted on the team’s next head coach, ranking each candidate.
Bill Belichick didn’t even finish in anyone’s top three.
It’s striking that Blank, who so ardently pursued Belichick at the beginning, didn’t even have him ranked among his top three per this reporting. But it’s also interesting that Macdonald and Slowik, a pair of young coaches who fit the mold of the first-time hires the Falcons have made over Blank’s tenure, ultimately lost out to a veteran coach who not only has a lengthy track record and previous head coaching experience, but experience coaching the Falcons. Again, a testament to Morris, I think.
Be sure to read the entire story if you’re interested, because it’s well-reported and well worth your time.
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