As the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Raheem Morris gets a rare opportunity for Black head coaches in the NFL.
A second chance.
Morris, the Rams’ defensive coordinator, not only gets a second chance at being a head coach, but he gets to do it back in Atlanta where he was the team’s interim head coach during the 2020 season.
His first head coaching job was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After taking over for Jon Gruden in 2009, Morris led the team for three seasons, amassing a record of 17-31. While that doesn’t sound great, there were signs that Morris had what it took to be a head coach. After going 3-13 in his first season, he went 10-6 in his second season before falling to 4-12, after which he was fired.
Morris then headed to Washington where he was the defensive backs coach for three seasons before heading back down South to the Falcons for six seasons, eventually being named the Falcons’ defensive coordinator and then interim head coach, after Dan Quinn was fired after five games, in 2020.
The next season Morris headed west as the Rams defensive coordinator. There he helped craft LA’s defense into a formidable unit. Two years later, he won his second Super Bowl when the Rams beat the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI (his first was as a defensive quality control coach for the Bucs in Super Bowl XXXVII).
So Morris has experience, spending over 25 years in the coaching ranks at both the collegiate and pro levels.
But Morris has secured is a rarity for Black coaches, which is a second chance at being a full-time NFL head coach as very few have been given the opportunity.
Only Art Shell (Raiders twice), Tony Dungy (Bucs and Colts), Jim Caldwell (Colts and Lions), Dennis Green (Vikings and Cardinals), Ray Rhodes (Eagles and Packers), Herm Edwards (Jets and Chiefs), Romeo Crennel (Browns and Chiefs), Lovie Smith (Bears and Texans), Hue Jackson (Raiders and Browns) and Todd Bowles (Jets and Bucs).
That’s 10 men over almost six decades in the history of the modern-day NFL.
But out of those names, five were only given one season as a team’s head coach.
Morris becomes the eleventh Black head coach to get a second chance at his dream job.
And he’s doing it for Atlanta, where he was both an interim head coach and the wide receivers coach in 2016 when the Falcons faced the Patriots in Super Bowl LI, and we all know how that turned out.
Here’s hoping that Raheem can finish the job the Falcons couldn’t the last time, this time as the man in charge.
