Ex-Atlanta Falcons coach interviewing for Giants’ head coaching vacancy

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Raheem Morris, fired this week by the Atlanta Falcons, is interviewing for the New York Giants head coaching vacancy on Thursday.

Per Dianna Russini of The Athletic, Morris had dinner with members of the Giants organization on Wednesday evening and is in the building for a full in-person interview on Thursday.

Former Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski had dinner with the Giants on Tuesday evening and completed his in-person interview on Wednesday.

Former Giants linebacker and Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce is expected to dine with Giants’ brass Thursday night and complete his in-person interview on Friday.

Coaches who are not currently affiliated with teams are the only ones who can interview in person at this time, per NFL rules on head coaching hires.

Morris is 37-56 (.398 winning percentage) as an NFL head coach. He went 17-31 from 2009-2011 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and was 16-18 the last two seasons with the Falcons. He also served as Atlanta’s interim head coach for most of the 2020 season, going 4-7.

More on the NY Giants coaching search​

• Survey: John Harbaugh or Kevin Stefanski as head coach for the Giants?
• NY Giants coaching search: Mike McCarthy added to interview list
• Kevin Stefanski first up, but Giants ‘urgently’ chasing John Harbaugh in coaching search
• ‘Somebody Tom Coughlin-esque’: NY Giants players want a leader in next head coach

Raheem Morris pros and cons​

Jeanna Kelley, credentialed media member covering the Falcons for SB Nation’s ‘The Falcoholic’, gave us some insight into Morris.

Raheem Morris has a lot of strengths: He loves his players, and he’s shown an ability to motivate them when they’re in a tough spot, like bouncing back to beat the Commanders after getting shut out by the Panthers, or finishing the season with four consecutive wins, unfortunately after the postseason was officially out of reach. I also think he’s had well-rounded experience – his background is primarily defensive, but he also worked with Julio Jones and Roddy White as the Falcons’ passing game coordinator under Dan Quinn. I think that experience on both sides of the ball makes a huge difference for a head coach.

I was honestly surprised he was fired – Arthur Blank has generally been willing to give a head coach three seasons to put together his roster for his scheme, and I do believe that with a more creative offensive coordinator and fewer special teams gaffes, this season might have gone very differently for Atlanta. But Blank isn’t getting any younger and desperately wants to see the Falcons win a Super Bowl before his time is up. As someone who’s also not getting any younger and desperately wants to see the Falcons win a Super Bowl, I get it.

My biggest concern about Morris is going to sound ridiculous, but it’s loyalty. That’s a wonderful trait in general, but one can be loyal to a fault, and I think that’s the truth with Morris. Exhibit A: Zac Robinson remaining as the team’s OC despite the fact that I knew exactly what they were going to do nine times out of 10 that they were lined up in the pistol. Game and clock management are an area where I also feel Morris has room to improve, and that’s a skill that often sets apart career coordinators and effective head coaches. But I will say it’s an area Morris knows he needs to work on, and he takes that seriously.

I hope Morris will land in a spot where he can find success as a head coach, because if you know him, it’s impossible to not root for the guy.

NFL head coach interview process​

NFL teams cannot simply get any candidate they want into their building for an interview and then hire that person on the spot. The Rooney Rule requires in-person interviews with at least two external minority candidates before hiring a coach. Mike Kafka, incidentally, would not count as a Rooney Rule interview for the Giants because the “external” requirement. There is also a schedule of when coaches can be interviewed. Here is the breakdown, via The Athletic:

• Teams with open head-coaching positions were able to begin requesting interviews with candidates from other teams on Jan. 6. Those interviews must happen virtually before the end of divisional-round games.
• Last year, the NFL recommended that teams with open head-coaching positions used this “virtual interview window” to set up initial interviews so those teams would be eligible to request a second interview with a candidate from a Super Bowl team during the bye week.
• Note: Teams may not interview employees of other teams that didn’t make the postseason until the third day after the employer teams’ Week 18 game (for example, Jan. 7 for a game on Jan. 4, or Jan. 8 for a game on Jan. 5).

These are the interview requirements for coaches of teams in the postseason:

• If the employer team has a bye in the wild-card round, virtual interviews may begin three days after Week 18 games and must happen before the end of wild-card games.
• If the employer team is participating in the wild-card round, virtual interviews may begin three days after the team’s wild-card game and must happen before the end of the divisional-round games.

Starting the day after the divisional round ends:

• Teams can conduct in-person or virtual interviews with candidates employed by other NFL teams whose seasons ended.
• Teams cannot hold initial interviews with candidates employed by teams participating in the AFC and NFC championship games until the end of the employer team’s season. A candidate’s employer team may not voluntarily grant permission for those interviews.

During the bye week between conference championships and the Super Bowl:

• Second interviews, either in-person or virtual, are allowed with head coach candidates employed by teams in the Super Bowl. The team(s) conducting the interviews must notify the employer team(s).

Contact with head coach candidates in the Super Bowl is not allowed from during the Super Bowl week until the day after the game.

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