Falcons Skip Over Bill Belichick, Make Head-Coaching Hire

The dream (or would it have been a nightmare?) of watching former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick patrol the sidelines for the Atlanta Falcons is now dead.

Atlanta is moving in a different direction.

The Falcons plan to hire Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their next head coach Thursday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. It's a return to Atlanta for Morris, who coached on multiple sides of the ball and even spent time as interim head coach from 2015-2020.

He was the Falcons' assistant head coach during their Super Bowl LI loss to the Patriots.

That leaves Belichick out of many options, as the Los Angeles Chargers (Jim Harbaugh) and Carolina Panthers (Dave Canales) also filled their openings Thursday. The Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders are the only openings left, and neither have interviewed Belichick.

In fact, the Falcons were the only team to interview the 71-year-old, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, and there are no known scheduled interviews coming. Belichick could sit out the year and await an opportunity in 2025.

There reportedly was "pushback" on Belichick being named Falcons coach due to the power structure currently in place in Atlanta. The Falcons interviewed 14 different head coaching candidates, including Belichick, Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel.