The Falcons announced the hiring of Raheem Morris on Thursday afternoon, and by Thursday night, they dropped an equally shocking announcement that Rich McKay would no longer be acting as a liaison to Arthur Blank.
The #Falcons say Raheem Morris and GM Terry Fontenot will report directly to owner Arthur Blank on all football matters.
Rich McKay remains CEO of AMB Sports and Entertainment. Greg Beadles remains team president and will continue overseeing all day-to-day business operations.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 26, 2024
Rich McKay’s role in the organization has been ambiguous for the past decade. Only recently were we made aware of exactly what he was doing. Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot reported to McKay during their three-year stretch, and the Falcons CEO would then report to the owner on matters.
What’s even worse is Falcons fans were lied to about McKay’s role. We were led to believe that he wasn’t involved in day-to-day operations, only to find out during a press conference following Smith’s termination that McKay spoke with the head coach and GM more than two dozen times per week. I don’t know why Falcons fans should believe Blank now.
The structure has been negatively viewed by head coach and general manager candidates, and it was said to be a massive hurdle in Blank’s pursuit of Bill Belichick. It’s a terrible system and one that is foreign to many franchises in the NFL.
Let’s just assume that McKay is out of football ops. Then, I’d say, “Thankfully, Blank has seemingly rectified the inefficient operation. Unfortunately, it’s not any better because the owner is still meddling in day-to-day operations.”
For all of his faults, Arthur Blank’s worst attribute as an owner is how hands-on he’s been over the past two decades. I’m not going to pretend that Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot are going to be asking permission for things; they’ll simply update the Falcons owner and answer his questions, but that still impacts Morris and Fontenot’s ability to do their job.
Just think, you believe you’re doing the correct thing at your job and then your boss, who has no experience in your area of expertise, sighs at your report. You’d begin to second guess yourself or worse.
I don’t think it’s insane to update your boss in any sector regularly. In fact, it’s necessary, but Blank has been doing this for his entire tenure as the owner, and it’s netted the same results. Don’t you think it’s time for a change?
The best franchises in the NFL have owners that delegate, or at least keep their noses out of day-to-day ops — Steelers, Packers, Patriots, Chiefs, etc. Blank isn’t a terrible owner by any means, but he’s kept this club from realizing its full potential.
The Falcons have been a bottom of the barrel franchise for much of its existence. Arthur Blank has seen more losing seasons than winning seasons since buying the Falcons in 2002, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
I commend Arthur Blank for finally realizing Rich McKay’s obscure, problematic role, but the Falcons owner stepping right back into the day-to-day ops wasn’t a net positive for this team.
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Photographer: Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire
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