{"id":655001,"date":"2026-01-05T04:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T04:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/655001\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T04:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T04:30:12","slug":"falcons-fire-raheem-morris-five-candidates-atlanta-could-look-to-hire-as-new-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/655001\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons fire Raheem Morris: Five candidates Atlanta could look to hire as new coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Falcons<\/a> are hitting the reset button once again after firing coach Raheem Morris<\/a> and GM Terry Fontenot.<\/p>\n

Atlanta has been stuck in a long stretch of mediocrity: Morris went 8-9 in both of his two seasons as head coach, and the team won seven games each of the three seasons before that. Those five seasons make up all of Fontenot’s tenure: not bad enough to bottom out, not good enough to be taken seriously. The Falcons haven’t made the postseason since 2017. They have had a different leading passer each of the top five seasons. They have been perfectly mediocre, over and over, in every sense of the word.<\/p>\n

The Falcons’ four-game winning streak to finish the season — though not enough to save Morris’ or Fontenot’s jobs — showed some encouraging signs. Bijan Robinson<\/a> is an absolute star. The defense has some nice young pieces, with first-round edge defenders Jalon Walker<\/a> and James Pearce Jr<\/a>. as well as third-round safety Xavier Watts<\/a> standing out. The Falcons were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention nearly one month ago, yet they technically finished in a three-way tie for first in the NFC South at 8-9.<\/p>\n

On one hand, they’re not that far away. On the other hand, they’re not that close, and without a first-round pick this season, they’ll have to find hits in free agency and later in the draft and count on internal improvements.<\/p>\n

Coach must be the most important improvement, though. Here are five who could fit the bill.<\/p>\n

The Browns are expected to move on<\/a>\u00a0from Stefanski, according to CBS Sports lead NFL<\/a> insider Jonathan Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stefanski is a two-time Coach of the Year. He has made the playoffs twice in six years in Cleveland, a team that hadn’t made the playoffs since 2002 prior to his arrival. He has made a wide variety of quarterbacks work amid trying circumstances: Baker Mayfield<\/a>, Jacoby Brissett<\/a>, Joe Flacco<\/a>, Jameis Winston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Could he add Michael Penix Jr<\/a>. to the mix next? Penix has been inconsistent and injury-prone. He really remains a big question mark, something that wouldn’t be the worst thing ever for a third-year quarterback if that quarterback wasn’t going to be 26 and coming off a torn ACL, as Penix is.<\/p>\n

Stefanski is only 43. He has crafted strong running games and solid, well-structured passing games. His Browns defenses have consistently been very good. He will be well sought-after elsewhere, but perhaps the Falcons and their strong building blocks will be appealing.<\/p>\n

2. Chris Shula (Los Angeles Rams<\/a> defensive coordinator)<\/p>\n

Would Arthur Blank double-dip in the “most recently the Rams defensive coordinator” pool? Shula replaced Morris in Los Angeles last year and, despite the Rams being one of the NFL’s lightest spenders on that side of the ball, has produced units that outperform their price tag. This year’s Rams defense is fifth in success rate and has been excellent in the red zone.<\/p>\n

Shula is 39 and has risen the ranks rapidly, helping develop several draft picks — the type of personnel the Falcons’ defense is full of — along the way. The Sean McVay coaching tree has many strong branches, and if Blank were to try it again, it could work.<\/p>\n

3. Klint Kubiak (Seattle Seahawks<\/a> offensive coordinator)<\/p>\n

If Blank opts for a first-time coach with a background on the offensive side of the ball, Kubiak could fit the bill, and the Falcons are familiar with him given his time as the New Orleans Saints<\/a>‘ offensive coordinator last year.<\/p>\n

The son of longtime NFL coach Gary Kubiak, Klint has a strong resume with a variety of strong offensive minds, including his own father, Stefanski, Kevin O’Connell and Kyle Shanahan. He has devised an effective, play action-heavy scheme in Seattle that has helped take Sam Darnold<\/a> and Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/a> to another level. As an added bonus in Seattle, he has rubbed shoulders with one of the NFL’s best defenses, and perhaps he could poach some assistants from that side of the ball.<\/p>\n

4. Mike LaFleur (Rams offensive coordinator)<\/p>\n

Yes, both the Rams’ offensive and defensive coordinators should be on the radar here. Mike LaFleur — younger brother of Green Bay Packers<\/a> head coach Matt LaFleur — has worked under McVay and Shanahan and alongside Mike McDaniel. He has also worked in Atlanta before: He was an offensive assistant in 2015 and 2016 under Shanahan, when the Falcons rose to NFC champions. The connection there is a strong one.<\/p>\n

LaFleur hasn’t been a play caller, but his experience under McVay is second to none, and the Rams’ offense has been absolutely outstanding this season.<\/p>\n

5. Kliff Kingsbury (Washington Commanders<\/a> offensive coordinator)<\/p>\n

Kingsbury declined to take interviews last year, when he would have been a hot name. The 2025 Commanders offense wasn’t as effective, but it’s hard to blame Kingsbury too much: Jayden Daniels<\/a> played in just seven games and shared the field with Terry McLaurin<\/a> for just three. The Commanders found ways to produce effective offense with Marcus Mariota<\/a>, and Kingsbury’s product wasn’t all that bad in light of the bevy of injuries Washington suffered.<\/p>\n

Kingsbury is a fascinating candidate. He is just 46 but has had head coaching stops in college and the NFL. He has called plays for multiple top-10 scoring offenses in the NFL, something few other candidates could say. He’s undoubtedly learned plenty of lessons since his stint with the Arizona Cardinals<\/a>. Would it be enough?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Falcons are hitting the reset button once again after firing coach Raheem Morris and GM Terry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[390,223,254,2554,1842,4127,54,224,7,345,7523,1486,1801,703,2869,734,562,1981,58,11695,1879,55,6,1878,261,7186,111,1416],"class_list":{"0":"post-655001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-arizona-cardinals","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-baker-mayfield","13":"tag-bijan-robinson","14":"tag-cleveland-browns","15":"tag-falcons","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-green-bay-packers","18":"tag-jacoby-brissett","19":"tag-jalon-walker","20":"tag-jameis-winston","21":"tag-james-pearce-jr","22":"tag-jaxon-smith-njigba","23":"tag-jayden-daniels","24":"tag-joe-flacco","25":"tag-jonathan-jones","26":"tag-los-angeles-rams","27":"tag-marcus-mariota","28":"tag-michael-penix-jr","29":"tag-new-orleans-saints","30":"tag-nfl","31":"tag-sam-darnold","32":"tag-seattle-seahawks","33":"tag-terry-mclaurin","34":"tag-washington-commanders","35":"tag-xavier-watts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}