A peek behind the curtain on how, and why, the Atlanta Falcons hired Raheem Morris

The most thorough coaching search in franchise history arrived at former Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris becoming the new face of the Atlanta Falcons. Morris spent the last three years on Sean McVay's staff in Los Angeles. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as an assistant coach and later interim head coach of the Falcons from 2015 to 2020. He has returned!

Throughout the process, Atlanta interviewed 14 different candidates for the job, many of whom got second interviews. Morris beat out the likes of Bill Belichick, Ben Johnson and Bobby Slowik for the right to lead the Dirty Birds. While his hiring came as a shock to complete and total outsiders, those in the know knew how good of a candidate Morris really was. He was an ideal candidate to lead this team.

From the Monday after the regular season ended until Thursday evening, Atlanta's robust coaching search reached its conclusion. It will either go down in history or infamy. Morris is a likable guy and a savvy coordinator, but he bombed in his first stab as a head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over a decade ago. He was in his early to mid 30s then. Morris must get the quarterback right first.

To help Dirty Bird Nation better understand Atlanta's logic behind bringing back a familiar face to lead them, Brett Jewkes gave us a peak behind the curtain with a lengthy Twitter thread that went out late Friday morning. For those who are unfamiliar with him, he is the Executive Vice President, Chief Brand and Communications Officer of the Blank Family of Businesses (BFOB) and AMB Sports (AMBSE).

So sit back and enjoy everything Jewkes felt comfortable divulging over the sanctity of social media.

Morris nailed the interview process, as his time with the Rams elevated his candidacy considerably.

Morris was in Atlanta for six years, but not everyone worked with him. Sounds like Terry Fontenot...

Jewkes said Atlanta's deep coaching search was not dumb, but all about gathering more information.

He harkened on how deep of a candidate pool it was, citing that several interviews lasted six hours.

The interviews led Jewkes to believe many of these men will be future NFL head coaches one day.

Citing that AMBSE is more than just a collective operating a football team feels a bit defensive.

Regardless, another new fancy title for Rich McKay will have him more out of the building than ever!

Yes, this was a coveted job, but everybody with a head-coaching vacancy is going to say that.

Jewkes is right in that this year's hiring cycle was way more in depth for pretty much everyone.

The partnership with Fontenot means everything, regardless of other head coaches' endorsements.

I think this is the biggest thing people are sleeping on. So many of the Falcons players love this hire!

Now that we got a Rise Up! to end the thread, let's unpack all that we can from such a lengthy thread.

A peak behind the curtain: Why the Atlanta Falcons hired Raheem Morris

Upon reading Jewkes' thread, my biggest takeaway is this thorough search was a necessary one for three reasons. One, the Falcons wanted to find the right collaborator to pair with Fontenot. This entire coaching was about collaboration. Fontenot seemed to have an arranged marriage with Arthur Smith. At the time, I love the Smith hire and was lukewarm on Fontenot. It shows what any of us really know...

Two, this was all about finding a way to effectively pivot from having McKay so closely tied to the football operation. He has been Arthur Blank's right-hand man for two decades now since leaving Tampa. While he taught Blank so much about the NFL game, McKay is long past his expiration date. Jewkes is right though in that AMBSE has many more things it needs to focus on besides football.

And three, it is abundantly clear that the Falcons wanted to gather as much good intel from other organizations as humanly possible. Atlanta views itself as a first-class operation, but this is not a first-class football team. There has been some disconnect over the years in that department. Being receptive and perceptive to hearing new thoughts and new information is never a bad thing to do.

Overall, there were a lot of reasons why Morris was always going to be a top candidate for this job, even if some people did not want it to happen. The 2020 Falcons players responded to him by going 4-7 under him as the interim after an 0-5 start to the year under Dan Quinn. It has been over a decade since Morris got his shot at redemption. His alignment with what Atlanta wants to do feels congruent.

Ultimately, we have to allow ourselves the opportunity for a coaching hire to unfold as it naturally would, as opposed to grading it immediately. Again, I loved the Arthur Smith hire, but either hated (Dan Quinn, Bobby Petrino) or was indifferent about (Jim Mora Jr., Mike Smith) the other hires Blank's team has made at the helm of the operation. Remember how much we hated the Dan Campbell hire?

All I know is this fanbase has grown so tired of being tortured and synergy has to be our guiding light.