Monday was the first day NFL teams could conduct in-person interviews with head coach candidates employed by teams whose seasons have ended. That means the Atlanta Falcons coaching search could end any day.
But it probably won't.
Atlanta fans need to prepare to end this week without a head coach and add new names to the list of people “interviewed” by then. For example, former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel is expected to interview for the job this week, according to a team source.
Vrabel would be the 14th known person to apply for the position. Team owner Arthur Blank announced on January 8 that his search for a new head coach would be exhaustive, but that was borderline exhausting.
The Falcons announce a new interview seemingly every day, sometimes even twice a day — like Sunday, when Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson participated in virtual interviews.
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It's worth asking how serious some of these virtual interviews are. Johnson's team finished its playoff game on Sunday around 6 p.m. and will play in the NFC Championship Game this weekend. Chances are he wasn't 100 percent sure about Atlanta's 2024 salary cap on Sunday night.
Still, the Falcons deserve credit for checking all the boxes the NFL outlined. The league first introduced the Rooney Rule (named after late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney) in 2003 to increase the number of minority head coaches in the league, and has periodically expanded its regulations since then .
The result is a much slower hiring cycle for head coaches, giving more coaches the opportunity to at least participate in the interview process. So far, the Falcons have interviewed six minority candidates: San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Baltimore Ravens assistant head coach Anthony Weaver, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, Detroit defensive coordinator , Aaron Glenn, and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.
All of those interviews took place virtually, although ESPN reported Monday that Atlanta will conduct a second interview with Morris this week. To comply with the Rooney Rule, the Falcons must conduct at least two in-person interviews with minority candidates. Once this is done, they can always hire a coach.
Bill Belichick's candidacy for the Falcons' head coaching job has cooled over the past week. (Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
That brings us to Bill Belichick. The former New England Patriots head coach has met with the Falcons twice, most recently on Friday, which was attended by Blank, team CEO Rich McKay, team president Greg Beadles and general manager Terry Fontenot, according to a team source.
Belichick is the only known candidate to have interviewed twice for the job and met with the entire administrative team. That – combined with Belichick's six Super Bowl rings as a head coach, the fact that he famously hasn't interviewed with other teams, Blank's previous interest in big-name head coaches like Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells, and the fact that Atlanta fired defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen is expected to apply for another job the day after his first meeting with Belichick — has led to the perception that the Falcons interview is simply a matter of wading through all of the NFL's bureaucracy on the way to an inevitable outcome.
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Perhaps. Maybe not. At least the Belichick candidacy has lost momentum over the past week, as multiple league sources have told The Athletic that the Belichick-or-bust assumption is inaccurate. In addition to Slowik, Johnson, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and the six minority candidates, the Falcons have met with Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan and Buffalo Bills interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady. Callahan was scheduled to do a second interview this week, but the Tennessee Titans reportedly hired him as head coach on Monday night.
More interviews (and perhaps even more names) will be announced throughout the week. So for Falcons fans who are following this search closely, it's going to be a busy and ultimately unsatisfying week.
And maybe it won't even be over next week. The Falcons were apparently impressed with the Ravens' Macdonald and Weaver and the Lions' Johnson and Glenn and have requested second interviews with Macdonald and Weaver, according to NFL Network. If that affinity turns into an actual job, that announcement wouldn't come until after the Super Bowl, when that coach's team advances beyond the conference championship games.
So it looks like the wait will be even longer for Atlanta fans who are all too comfortable with this.
(Top photo of Falcons owner Arthur Blank: Jamie Sabau / USA Today)