ESPN Reveals Reason Falcons Passed on Bill Belichick

According to ESPN, Bill Belichick thought he had the Atlanta Falcons job hours before Raheem Morris was announced.

The Atlanta Falcons fired head coach Arthur Smith on January 8th and followed with a thorough coaching search.

The tea leaves were pointing towards former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick taking over in Atlanta. According to a report from ESPN, that was much more than mere speculation.

"On the morning of Jan. 25, a few hours before the Atlanta Falcons named Raheem Morris to be their next head coach, Bill Belichick believed the job was his," ESPN wrote in a detailed report conducted by several of their reporters titled Inside Bill Belichick's failed job hunt.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank had met with Belichick several times and appeared to be closing in on announcing the legendary coach as the new head man in Atlanta.

What happened?

Belichick's eventual failure in New England had more to do with his role as general manager than coach. However, he wasn't seeking total control of the Falcons according to ESPN.

According to ESPN, Belichick was submarined by his former boss in New England, Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

"Blank spoke by phone, at least twice, to Robert Kraft," ESPN reported. "Among the NFL owners, Blank considers Kraft his closest friend. Publicly, Kraft and Blank have said Kraft expressed only support and offered praise of his former coach.

"But in a conversation with Blank, Kraft delivered a stark assessment of Belichick's character, according to a source who spoke to two people: a close Kraft friend and a longtime Belichick confidant. The source quoted the Belichick source as saying, 'Robert called Arthur to warn him not to trust Bill.' That account was backed up, the source said, by the close Kraft friend."

Belichick may have been saying the right things to Blank about team control, but he was told not to trust Belichick. Arthur Blank's loyalty-to-a-fault reputation is well earned, and he wasn't going to hire a head coach that would step on his current staff including general manager Terry Fontenot.

After hiring Morris, Blank publicly referred to Belichick as "a living legend," according to ESPN.

"What Blank didn't say was that he and his top lieutenants had voted on the team's next head coach, ranking each candidate," reported ESPN. "Bill Belichick didn't even finish in anyone's top three."

ESPN goes on to detail many of the reasons why Belichick is out of the NFL despite his legendary status with their nearly 5,000 word report. It's recommended reading for any football fan.

The Falcons ultimately hired Morris to be their next head coach. They upgraded the quarterback room with Kirk Cousins, and they have a lot of options with the No. 8 pick in the NFL Draft next Thursday.

Belichick would have been interesting in Atlanta, for the short term, but ultimately no one wanted the 72-year old coach with six Super Bowl rings.