According to multiple Thursday reports, the Atlanta Falcons planned to hire Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their head coach.
The Falcons confirmed that news later Thursday night.
Morris replaces Arthur Smith, who was fired after the Falcons finished 7-10 this season.
As Profootballtalk.com's Myles Simmons reports, the move marks a return to Atlanta for Morris, 47, who was with the Falcons from 2015-2020, serving in various assistant roles on offense and defense. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2020 and served as interim head coach after Dan Quinn was fired following a 0-5 start. The Falcons went 4-7 under Morris that year.
This is Morris' second head coaching job after being hired to lead the Buccaneers in 2009. He went 17-31 in three seasons with Tampa Bay, with the team going 10-6 in 2010.
Morris has served as Rams defensive coordinator since 2021, winning Super Bowl LVI with the club. He was also a defensive quality control coach for the Buccaneers in 2002 when Tampa Bay won Super Bowl XXXVII over the Raiders.
ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein notes that Morris' hire comes after an extensive search that featured 14 candidates, including former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel, and former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who was hired Wednesday as the Los Angeles Chargers' new coach.
Morris was one of four coaches who had second interviews with the club. The others were Belichick, Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, and Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. The Falcons were the only team Belichick is known to have interviewed with -- and they've decided to go in another direction.
NFL.com's Grant Gordon points out Morris will find a defense featuring second-team All-Pro safety Jessie Bates III, cornerback A.J. Terrell and defensive lineman Grady Jarrett. It's a unit that improved drastically in 2023, finishing 11th in total defense after it was 27th in 2022.
The Falcons are also loaded at the top end of the skill positions on offense, led by former first-round picks Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts.
However, he will also find a looming quandary at quarterback as it would seem unlikely that Desmond Ridder or Taylor Heinicke would remain as the franchise's starting signal-caller.
Meanwhile, the prevailing topic will be how the Falcons front office will collaborate with Morris, owner Arthur Blank, Falcons CEO Rich McKay, and general manager Terry Fontenot.
It's worth noting that Rams general manager Les Snead began his end-of-season news conference with an unprompted endorsement of Morris.
"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 pointed to Morris' "unique football acumen," which is something "not many coaches on the planet" can say because he has coached in both defensive and offensive rooms.
"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. I know this, he'll be able to hire an unbelievable staff. 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."
Fantasy Impact In Atlanta
As Snead noted, Morris has a feel for the offensive side of things. Football guy Jason Wood believes the coach's tenure in Tampa Bay suggests it might be a strength.
Per Wood, the team's units finished like this:
- Year One (2009) -- 30th ranked offense, 27th defense
- Year Two (2010) -- 20th offense, 9th defense
- Year Three (2011) -- 27th offense, 32nd defense
Wood reminds us it was the Josh Freeman era and that Greg Olson, "who is an awful play-caller" but has somehow been the coordinator for five different teams, ran the offense.
In this iteration, Wood believes Morris could pluck some fruit from the Sean McVay coaching tree, bringing Rams passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Zac Robinson along to run Atlanta's offense. CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones is reporting the same. Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic reports that Morris had Robinson's name on the staff list in his interviews.
Robinson helped oversee the Rams' vastly improved offense in 2023 while helping to get the most out of exciting young stars like Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams.
Of course, as suggested above, the Falcons have to sort out the quarterback position, but Bijan Robinson, London, and Pitts are as strong a core of skill players as you'll find in the league. An offensive line that ranks 13th on our own Matt Bitonti 2023 Offensive-Line Rankings (18th in run blocking, 4th in pass blocking) adds to the fun.
Fantasy Impact in Los Angeles
SI.com's Albert Breer expects the Rams to at least take a swing at getting Ejiro Evero back to LA to replace Morris as defensive coordinator. Rodrigue agrees, but she notes that teams can block interview requests for lateral moves, and previously, in this cycle, it seemed like Carolina was set on retaining Evero. And if Robinson moves on, the Rams will have another hole to fill.
By the way, the Rams receive a third-round compensatory pick for two years, with Morris hired by another team as part of the Rooney Rule.