The Atlanta Falcons will need a new head coach in 2021, and they will have their pick of several qualified candidates.
The Atlanta Falcons are destined to pick in the Top 10 once again, as their traditional style of play, otherwise known as letting down a tremendous offensive led by quarterback Matt Ryan by choking away leads, knee-capped whatever chances Atlanta had at making the postseason this year. With Dan Quinn out as head coach after just five games, Arthur Blank has had plenty of time to survey the football world in the search for a successor.
These five candidates stand out as the best possible men for the Falcons job, as their blend of schematic brilliance and leadership ability could help the Falcons challenge the rest of the NFC South in 2021.
These five candidates would be ideal coaches for Matt Ryan and the Falcons
5
Raheem Morris
HC Atlanta Falcons
Very rarely can a coach who has led his team to a 4-6 considered an overwhelming success, but Morris took over a Quinn-coached team that sported one of the league’s worst defenses and had a comical penchant for blowing leads at inopportune times, and he’s made them, at the very least, a respectable team. Under Morris, the Falcons have only given up more than 23 points twice, while Quinn allowed at least 23 in every game he coached.
Of Morris‘ six losses, all but one of them was a one-score game, and those six losses include two at the hands of the deadly New Orleans Saints, one thanks to Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and last week’s game against the 14-1 Kansas City Chiefs that Morris almost sent to overtime after locking down Patrick Mahomes.
Morris was a head coach in Tampa Bay a decade ago, but he went 17-31 and never won a playoff game in three seasons. However, Morris was often shackled with poor quarterback play from Josh Freeman. With Matt Ryan under center and ready to operate Dirk Koetter’s explosive vertical passing attack, Morris will have much better offensive infrastructure than he had in Tampa.
Morris might not be the sexiest hire given his poor history as a head coach, but the NFL is a results-driven business, and Morris is making a winless team that could’ve curled up in a ball and played dead fight hard every single week, even if they’re not eligible for the postseason.