The Atlanta Falcons are making big structural changes following their eighth consecutive losing season. While head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot were both fired on Sunday night after the team's win over the New Orleans Saints, the organizational shakeup began behind closed doors months ago, according to a letter from team owner Arthur Blank.
In Blank's letter he revealed a number of changes to the front office and gave some insight into the upcoming coach and GM searches. Sportsology Group, an outside consulting firm which will assist in the GM search, has been doing a "deep, thorough and intentional health assessment" of the football operations for the last two months.
In addition to Sportsology, ZRG Partners, a "talent advisory firm" will assist in the search for a new coach. Both of those searches will be overseen by the "president of football."
The president of football is a new hire from "outside the organization," who will "set the vision and identity" of the team, have final decision making authority and report directly to Blank. You will notice that no search firm is involved in the hiring of this outsider, which means Blank probably has someone in mind. Most people's best guess is that he will have significant ties to the team and maybe played quarterback for them the last time they had a winning season or went to the Super Bowl.
But that's not all.
Greg Beadles, who has been with the team for three decades and was just the team president last week, has been elevated to president and CEO. Rich McKay, who was the CEO, is not going anywhere and will "now be able to give full focus to critical AMBSE initiatives." McKay was the team's general manager from 2003 to 2008, then ran the team as the president and CEO from '08-'22 before spending the last few seasons as the CEO.
Got all that? The Falcons will have two presidents, two search firms and a new head coach and general manager next season. And they'll all be trying to do whatever they can to put a winning team on the field for the first time in nearly a decade for an owner who just shook up the entire front office following another losing season.
Then there's the quarterback situation. Michael Penix Jr., the No. 8 pick in the '22 draft, played nine games this season before tearing his ACL. Kirk Cousins, 37, still has two years remaining on a very large contract and didn't play much better after taking over for Penix. Cousins would love to be back next year and is only due a $10 million roster bonus in March.
That's not a great situation for any new team president, president of football, general manager or coach, but surely the consulting and advisory firms will have some answers.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Falcons Will Have At Least Four People in Important New Roles Next Season.
