{"id":393784,"date":"2026-01-05T19:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393784\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T19:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:48:08","slug":"falcons-to-hire-president-of-football-perhaps-matt-ryan-to-oversee-gm-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393784\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons to hire \u2018president of football\u2019 \u2014\u00a0perhaps Matt Ryan? \u2014\u00a0to oversee GM, head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of NFL coaching changes.<\/a><\/p>\n

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. \u2014 The Atlanta Falcons are shaking things up, but for real this time. That, at least, was the message coming from the team during a dramatic 12 hours that began with Sunday night\u2019s firing of head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot<\/a> and was capped by a detailed letter from owner Arthur Blank promising change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we have fallen short of the standard you expect and we as an organization have for ourselves. That responsibility rests with me,\u201d Blank wrote. \u201cWhen results do not match expectations over time, as the owner, accountability cannot be shared or softened. I believe this team should be competing at a higher level than it has, and I share your deep frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to that frustration, Blank is scrapping the collaborative approach that the team has proudly trumpeted in its decision-making over the last decade and will hire a president of football who will oversee the new head coach and general manager and make the final decision on all football matters. Former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is the leading candidate for that position<\/a>, but the league must comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires two interviews with minority candidates before making a hire, league sources told The Athletic.<\/p>\n

The president of football will be the first hire and will be \u201cfully involved\u201d in the selection of the new coach and general manager, according to Blank. The new position, along with Greg Beadles\u2019 promotion from team president to president and CEO, seems to officially push out longtime executive Rich McKay.<\/p>\n

McKay, who has been with Blank since 2003 when he was hired as general manager, will now \u201cgive full focus\u201d to his CEO duties at Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment. Blank characterized the move as \u201csuccession planning that began over five years ago maturing,\u201d but Atlanta fans who have come to blame all of the organization\u2019s failures on McKay\u2019s poorly explained involvement over the years will be waiting to see if McKay is actually out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand trust is built through action, not words,\u201d Blank wrote to fans. \u201cHonesty, effort and accountability must be reflected in the way this organization operates and performs. Moving forward, every decision will be made with one clear objective \u2014 building a team capable of sustained success and competing for championships. I am confident that our new football structure and leadership will have us contending again soon. We are laser-focused on filling these key roles and others with outstanding talent and empowering them correctly ahead of this critical offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blank, who has owned the team since 2002, will address the media during a Thursday news conference.<\/p>\n

All of the news fell mostly with an echo in a nearly empty Falcons locker room Monday morning. Only a handful of Atlanta players were still around when the media was allowed in for the annual end-of-season availability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised (by the firings) after ending the season on the four-game win streak and righting a couple wrongs that everybody was talking about,\u201d linebacker Josh Woods said. \u201cI was hoping that it didn\u2019t go that way. Obviously, that\u2019s the nature of the business we are in. We\u2019re here to win, and we haven\u2019t been, so I understand. But (I\u2019m) definitely a little bit disappointed by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris and Fontenot both addressed the players in a Monday morning meeting, Woods said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe meeting was hard for a lot of guys,\u201d long snapper Liam McCullough said. Morris and Fontenot \u201care great people. They have a lot of respect from the guys on this team. Tears were shed: players, coaches. You wish them the best. They are going to continue to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falcons offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford learned the news while watching Sunday night\u2019s Baltimore-Pittsburgh game at home, he said. He is hopeful he can remain in Atlanta under the new head coach. Woods also expressed a desire to see defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich remain with the Falcons next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a heck of a coach, created a heck of a culture,\u201d Woods said.<\/p>\n

Morris\u2019 firing, or at least the timing of it, came as a surprise to him. He said immediately after Sunday\u2019s 19-17 win over the Saints that he hadn\u2019t had any conversations with Blank about his future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectation is always to be back,\u201d Morris said. \u201cI\u2019ll coach this football team as long as he allows me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just hours later, he and Fontenot were fired after meeting with Blank. Morris was 8-9 in both of his full seasons as head coach in Atlanta. Counting a three-year stint in Tampa Bay and 11 games as the Falcons\u2019 interim coach in 2020, Morris is 37-56 as a head coach.<\/p>\n

Still, he had the support of several key players following the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Raheem, that\u2019s my dude, but that\u2019s Arthur Blank\u2019s decision,\u201d running back Bijan Robinson said before the firing. \u201cI am going to support Raheem no matter what. I love him as a big brother, father figure, coach, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wide receiver Drake London said Morris \u201cbrought back my love for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presence of Robinson and London, along with a young defense that finished second in the league in sacks this year (57), will make the Falcons an intriguing option for many head coaching candidates despite the fact that the Falcons haven\u2019t had a winning season or made the playoffs since 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just need to get over this hill, and I think the future is very, very bright with the talent we have,\u201d London said. \u201cI love this team. I love the city. I love the fans. I\u2019m going to do everything in my power to go out and win for them and go out and create a winning culture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of NFL coaching changes. FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. \u2014 The Atlanta Falcons are shaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[1276,64,63,596,593,85],"class_list":["post-393784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}