The Falcoholic
Atlanta extended their playoff drought to seven after missing the postseason in 2024. With a growing dissatisfaction among fans, the need to win now is more imperative than ever. If the team doesn’t, how hot is head coach Raheem Morris’ seat?
An eight season playoff drought. That’s what the Atlanta Falcons are staring at if they don’t turn the 2025-2026 season into a successful one. And while the end of next season is still a little under a year away, I get the sense that some front office and coaching staff figures could be heading out the door should the team not make the postseason again.
One of them is general manager Terry Fontenot, and we here at The Falcoholic had conversations regarding Fontenot’s future with Atlanta after the end of last season. Our take was that the signing of Kirk Cousins, the lack of a playoff berth in his tenure, and the violation of the NFL’s tampering policy that resulted in a forfeiture of our fifth round pick this draft as the main factors that could contribute to Fontenot getting the boot. For now, Fontenot’s job seems to be secure for another year.
That leaves Raheem Morris. Oftentimes for teams, the head coach and general manager’s futures have gone hand-in-hand. Examples include former head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke being fired by the 49ers after tying a franchise worst 2-14 record in 2016, or when former head coach Hue Jackson and Sashi Brown were fired after their winless 2017 season in Cleveland (Brown was fired after Week 13). While that hasn’t always been the case for the Falcons under Blank, there’s cause for concern if you’re head coach Raheem Morris and Atlanta doesn’t deliver a playoff clinching season in 2025.
Throughout the season, Morris’ head was called for many times by fans, figuratively speaking, of course. This was due to several factors, but a few we can narrow down were Morris’ putrid clock management against Washington at the end of both halves, his weekly ambiguous press conferences, and his commitment to a struggling Kirk Cousins, although there may have been pressure from the front office and Blank to keep Cousins on the field.
These factors led to a tumultuous first year as head coach for Morris, and partly because he’s mostly still an unproven head coach sitting at a .382 win percentage, it seems like a “now or never” moment for Morris to prove that he’s what this team needs for the future.
Luckily for Morris, he has a team owner and president who’s known to run one of the most loyal front offices in the league. But with Arthur Smith getting just three years after a full-scale teardown in his first two years, should Morris be concerned for his future?
The head coach is easily one of the most volatile positions in the league, as every year at least a handful and sometimes up to a quarter of...
