The Falcoholic
Earlier this week, I wrote that the Atlanta Falcons were likely to either decide the fate of Raheem Morris after Thursday Night Football or wait until the end of the season. It appears it’ll be season’s end, something that was always likely if the Falcons won last night, but was actually reported before the game.
That’s per Ian Rapoport, who says Arthur Blank will evaluate the entire football operation after the 2025 season is over.
That fits the modus operandi for for Blank, who only has two in-season firings in his years as an owner, with Dan Reeves getting the axe after 13 games back in 2003 and Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff getting fired after five games in that doomed 2020 season. Blank does not want to make rash moves, or at least moves that could be perceived as being rash, and the season is already lost. The Falcons will look at five full seasons with Fontenot at the helm of the front office and two full seasons with Morris running the team.
I genuinely don’t know which way Blank is going to go, but one suspects he’d like to keep both. Fontenot has been given free rein to sink major assets into this roster, from Blank’s dollars to significant draft capital, and the team still likely believes the roster is a lot closer to contention than the results on the field would indicate. Morris, meanwhile, would be the first Falcons head coach not to get three years with the roster, is still well-regarded around the league and by the owner here, and has presided over genuine defensive improvement even if it’s in fits and starts. None of that has added up to a winning season or made the Falcons look any better nationally as they lurch between weird losses and drama, but Blank has long been allergic to blowing this thing up, and it’s fair to wonder if that will really change heading into 2026.
But the reality is that we don’t know where he’s going to land; we’re just reading the tea leaves. Whatever decision the Falcons make, it would behoove them to make it quickly after the season is over, both to ensure they get a jump start on a critical offseason and to begin selling what’s next to fans with vigor. Especially if everyone’s coming back, that’s going to be necessary.
