Why Falcons Ultimately Decided To Pass On Hiring Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick looked like the clear front-runner to be the next head of the Atlanta Falcons when he completed a second interview with the organization last week.

But how quickly things can change.

Belichick ended up losing all the momentum he created and the Falcons went in a different direction Thursday by hiring Raheem Morris to take the reins of the team.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer joined NBC Sports Boston’s “Early Edition” to offer insight into why the Falcons ultimately decided that Belichick wasn’t the right person for their head coaching job.

“(Falcons owner) Arthur Blank wanted to hire Bill Belichick the head coach,” Breer said. “And it wasn’t the money. I think he was willing to pay him. It was everything else that was going to have to happen. And the amount of people around him that Bill’s going to need here. And the amount of people that might be outgoing because of it.

“And I think people in that building knew, like, ‘Hey, if Bill comes here, I probably won’t be here for much longer.’ So those people wind up getting in Blank’s ear. … I think more than anything else it was the fact that Bill wanted the thing set up a certain way and Blank wasn’t comfortable with that, especially for a guy who might only be around for a year or two.”

Belichick had a great deal of control during his illustrious 24-year run with the Patriots, and trying to get that same type of power with the Falcons seemed to be a point of contention.

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Belichick reportedly wanted to bring assistants with him to the Falcons and a potential rift with Falcons CEO Rich McKay certainly didn’t help matters, either.

While ESPN’s Adam Schefter also reported that Blank was on board with hiring Belichick, he ended up listening to his brain trust and passing on the legendary coach.

“My understanding is that the Falcons owner Arthur Blank really liked Bill Belichick and would have supported that hiring,” Schefter said on “NFL Live.” “But it’s beyond just one man. This is a collaborative hiring effort, and there are a lot of people in that building that supported Raheem Morris. He met with the Falcons on Tuesday night at Arthur Blank’s house. Had a tremendous meeting there.”

Morris might have had something that Belichick didn’t. According to Schefter, the Rams voiced a tremendous amount of support for the Falcons to hire Morris even thought it would leave Los Angeles without a defensive coordinator.

It’s unclear if Belichick received the same type of endorsements that Morris did despite his longstanding ties around the league.

“The Rams were fully backing Raheem Morris because they truly believed his time had come,” Schefter said. “They went out of their way publicly and privately to point out to everybody that Raheem Morris was long overdue for a head coaching job. And I believe the Rams words resonated with people across the league.”

The Falcons skipping over Belichick could mean he won’t coach in 2024 as he’s viewed as a “long shot” for the two remaining NFL head coaching vacancies.