Raheem Morris was hired to take over the Falcons, according to multiple reports. Morris was the interim head coach in Atlanta after Dan Quinn was fired in 2020, but the Falcons ultimately hired Arthur Smith following that season.
Now Morris returns with a clean slate, inheriting a far more talented team than when he was last with the Falcons. The problem under Smith was Atlanta seldom played to its talent level, and now Morris – who has experience coaching on both sides of the ball – will be tasked with unlocking the Falcons in a wide-open NFC South.
Reacting to the news, Carl Dukes said Thursday on Dukes & Bell he thinks Morris checks a lot of the important boxes.
“You wanted young, he’s 47. You wanted a Super Bowl champion, he is that. You wanted a guy that has multiple experiences up and down the staff, on the offensive and defensive sides of the football, he’s done those things. You wanted former head coaching experience, he’s been a head coach,” Dukes said. “I don’t know how many more boxes you can say – hey, whoever comes into this room, these are the things we’d like for him to have. And then the guy comes in the room and he checks all those boxes.”
This will be Morris’ third opportunity as a head coach. He was the head coach of the Bucs from 2009-2011 before getting the interim tag with the Falcons.
Atlanta had cast a wide net in its search, interviewing Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Vrabel and Bobby Slowik, among others. Ultimately, they decided the best move was to go with Morris.If he response among fans is tepid, Dukes is chalking that up to the familiarity Morris brings as opposed to some of the other reported options.
The only reason why you may feel (lukewarm) the way you do is because we’re already familiar with him. But as far as this is a guy that fits everything that you might be looking for, he does
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