National Football League

With Bill Belichick and Jim Harbaugh meetings, Falcons set high bar for HC hire

Published Jan. 17, 2024 10:02 a.m. ET

Where does the Falcons' job rank among the NFL's head coach openings?

If you want evidence that Atlanta is high on the list, consider the past 48 hours and two A-list candidates who have interviewed with the Falcons: Bill Belichick and Jim Harbaugh.

One has six Super Bowl rings and needs 15 wins to become the winningest coach in NFL history. The other just won a national championship at Michigan and is contemplating a return to the NFL, where he went 44-19-1 in four years with the 49ers.

When the Falcons said they value head coaching experience in the evaluation process, they weren't kidding.

"Nobody connected to our organization has anything else but the full commitment to getting us to the next level and getting us to a championship level," Falcons owner Arthur Blank said last week after moving on from coach Arthur Smith after his third straight 7-10 season. "Getting us to where we have committed to our fan base that we wanted to be, and that's having an extraordinarily competitive team. So, we'll do everything we can to invest in that. As always, we'll put all our resources on the table."

The Falcons have cast a wide net, doing online interviews with five coveted NFL assistants in addition to Belichick and Harbaugh. Those candidates are: Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, Ravens defensive line coach Anthony Weaver, 49ers DC Steve Wilks and Panthers DC Ejiro Evero. That list is likely to grow, with five days still left before any teams can conduct in-person interviews with candidates.

Just getting Belichick and Harbaugh — both respected and coveted enough they likely wouldn't take interviews unless they were strongly considering the job — speaks well of how the Falcons are seen among the NFL's seven vacancies. Belichick's legacy is constant, dynastic success with the Patriots, going to 10 Super Bowls and winning six, and at age 71, he logically will be choosing a team he thinks is ready to compete for the playoffs — and in the playoffs — immediately. Same for the 60-year-old Harbaugh, who is 37-3 in the past three seasons at Michigan and wouldn't leave unless it was for a great opportunity.

The Falcons offer a talented offense, a solid defense and a comparably easy path to the playoffs in a division that had the worst record in the NFL in 2023. There is certainly a void at quarterback, but Atlanta has the cap flexibility to upgrade there, whether in acquiring a veteran or using the No. 8 pick in the 2024 draft on a quarterback.

It would make sense that a solid coach might think he could get more from the Falcons than Smith did in 2023, going 2-6 against teams with losing records. Atlanta has a third-place schedule, making it easier for the Falcons to catch up to the Bucs and Saints, who finished 9-8 this season.

Is Bill Belichick the greatest coach of all time? | Speak

Blank is 81, and his team hasn't been to the playoffs since 2017, matching the third-longest drought in the league, so this hire carries an urgency to get the franchise back to a more competitive level. Bringing in Belichick or Harbaugh would be wildly expensive — perhaps $20 million a year or more — but coaches don't count against a team's salary cap, so it's one area where an owner can spend freely to bring in the very best.

"There's no question that over the last three years that our results have not been what I've committed to our franchise, which has been to have championships and being competitive at the highest possible levels that we could achieve," Blank said. "We haven't done that for three years."

The Falcons have been to two Super Bowls in their 58-year existence, losing both, and the irony is that one of their best options is the man directly responsible for their biggest disappointment. In 2017, the Falcons had a 28-3 lead in the third quarter against Belichick's Patriots, only to see Tom Brady rally New England to a 34-28 overtime victory. No NFL team needs to ask Belichick for his résumé, but the Falcons know it more personally than most franchises.

If Belichick were to choose Atlanta, it would closely mirror Brady choosing Tampa Bay four years ago. The Bucs hadn't been to the playoffs in 12 seasons when he signed there, with one Super Bowl in their existence, and he got them a championship in his first season, starting a run of three straight division titles after that. Much like Brady did in Tampa, Belichick would immediately give the Falcons a national relevance — more attendance, more prime-time TV games — and Harbaugh would do the same to some extent.

Atlanta isn't the only team that's interested in the two coaches, and others that haven't fired their current coaches and are arguably closer to postseason success could make a move if it meant landing an elite coach like Belichick or Harbaugh. The fact that the Falcons have already started the process with them speaks well of them being firmly in the discussion for both. Whether they can actually land one or the other remains to be seen.

Neither is a lock to find the same success in a new chapter. Belichick, for all his historic success, went 12-22 in his last two years in New England, including a 4-13 mark in 2023. And Harbaugh has reached the pinnacle of college football, but it's been nine years since he was last in the NFL, as well as his tenure with the 49ers went.

Which head coach opening is the best fit for Jim Harbaugh?

Whether it's a splash hire like Belichick or Harbaugh, or a more understated move in identifying an up-and-coming NFL assistant, or the vast middle ground between those two, Blank said he understands the high expectations placed on him — and this hire — to take the Falcons to a higher place.

"Do our fans believe in the experience? Do they believe in our franchise? Do they believe in our capability to produce at the highest level? My answer is yes, they do," he said. "They have not given up hope. They're angry. They're frustrated. I'm angry. I'm frustrated.

"But I absolutely have faith and confidence in our ability to continue to not only dream, but to fulfill at the next highest level."

Greg Auman is FOX Sports' NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.