The Atlanta Falcons front office could bring in a storied franchise quarterback to lead the next head coach search.
The Atlanta Falcons have two key positions to fill: head coach and general manager. However, that’s not their priority order of hiring. Falcons owner Arthur Blank indicated on Thursday at a news conference that the team will look to implement a new role called the “president of football.” That hire will come first and will then lead Atlanta’s search to replace fired head coach Raheem Morris and GM Terry Fontenot. Their first candidate? Former quarterback Matt Ryan.
This role would report directly to Blank, and while they will be tasked to find the next head coach and general manager, those candidates will remain the main decision-makers in their roles once hired. Now, Ryan has no front office experience. However, he is the best player the franchise has seen in a Falcons uniform. There’s speculation that the role is being created specifically with Ryan in mind, with his knowledge as a leader and of the game as assets.
"His EQ (emotional intelligence) and IQ when it comes to football is extraordinarily high," Blank said of Ryan. "I've known Matt personally since 2008, and his family, and he's an outstanding individual, great community leader and kind of person we certainly would want to consider in that position."
Now, they will interview other candidates, and those names will be announced once they’ve completed those meetings. But it seems like Ryan is the clear frontrunner. The question then becomes, who would fit with his presumed vision as the next head coach? Per Marc Raimondi of ESPN, John Harbaugh is expected to be a name of focus -- and they won't be alone in thinking that.
"John has been one of the most successful coaches in the last 20 years in our league," Blank said. "He has won at every level. And so, he would certainly be a candidate who we'd want to spend some time with. Whether or not [he has] an interest in Atlanta, I don't know."
The team has hired firm Sportsology to assist in the general manager search and firm JRZ Partners for the coaching search. But once hired, the new president of football will take charge and will also oversee those positions once they’re in place. It’ll be curious to see how a quarterback mind could play into those searches with the team heading forward with Michael Penix Jr. as the team’s franchise quarterback. Will he seek out a QB guru-type coach? Or would a coach like Harbaugh, with the holistic approach of a special teams coordinator, be a better option for team building as whole?
A quarterback can be great, but he can also be limited by the talent or lack thereof around them. Atlanta’s philosophy in the last few drafts has been bizarre and hasn’t built up any trenches. Perhaps that’s the focus of the next vision led by a former QB who was never particularly mobile.