Now that their 4-12 season has mercifully ended, the Atlanta Falcons are in the market for a new permanent head coach after they fired Dan Quinn in October. Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s name is at the top of the list for many teams in the market for a head coach, and this list is no exception. He leads the odds for Atlanta (+300), followed by interim Falcons head coach Raheem Morris (+400).
Atlanta interviewed Bieniemy on Monday and Morris on Friday (it would be awkward if they didn’t since he’s in the building), while more names have been added to the list of potential contenders. Here’s a look at some of the favorite and more notable names in the conversation.
Eric Bieniemy: +300
Eric Bieniemy is a familiar name on lists for NFL head coach openings and he is being courted by multiple teams. Bieniemy has held coaching positions at Colorado and UCLA at the collegiate level, and the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL, before joining the Chiefs in 2013 as a running backs coach. He has been the team’s offensive coordinator since 2018 and has accomplished a lot in that short time. Bieniemy won the Super Bowl with the team last year and his Kansas City offense finished second in the league this season.
He is also on the head coaching candidate list for the New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Los Angeles Chargers. There is a good chance he would take the Falcons job if the team offered it to him so it wouldn’t be the worst idea to put your money on the rising coaching star to land in Atlanta.
By Lucy Burdge
January 5, 2021 10:49 am
The NFL playoffs are upon us and all eyes now turn to the ever-popular Super Bowl odds. The Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers have remained two of the favorites from the preseason through the regular season, though the Packers’ odds have shortened, while the Chiefs’ have gotten slightly longer.
The Chiefs are looking to repeat as Super Bowl champions and are enjoying their status as the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The Packers finished the regular season with a 13-3 record, and are the top seed in the NFC heading into the playoffs.
Behind the two frontrunners are the Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Baltimore Ravens. All of their odds have shortened since the preseason. As playoff anticipation starts to ramp up, let’s take a look at the odds for some of the more highly-favored teams to win the Super Bowl.
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Raheem Morris: +400
The Falcons interviewed Morris for the role on Friday and he has expressed strong interest in keeping his interim job permanently. His record as the head coach this year is 4-7 after Quinn coached the team to 0-5 before he was fired.
Morris was the team’s defensive coordinator before stepping into the head coach role. This wasn’t his first go as an NFL head coach, as he also served as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-2011 and finished his stint there with a 21-38 record. He then became the Washington Football Team’s (then Redskins) defensive backs coach before joining the Falcons in 2015.
Prior to that he held a handful of coaching positions with the Bucs with a few college coaching jobs with Hofstra, Cornell, and Kansas State sprinkled in there. So he definitely has coaching experience.
If the Falcons offer Morris this job he would almost certainly take it. He’s not a bad bet because Morris will be a strong possibility if Bieniemy declines an offer.
Josh McDaniels: +1000
New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is in the head coaching vacancy conversation every offseason and he said recently he “definitely” wants to explore the options.
McDaniels has spent 17 total years with the Patriots as a personnel assistant, defensive assistant, and offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach. He has head coaching experience with the Denver Broncos from 2009-2010 and ended up with a record of 11-17. He also served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Los Angeles Rams (then St. Louis) in 2011.
I think McDaniels will remain with the Patriots, as he has done when he’s been in head coaching conversations in the past. Not only just in conversations, but don’t forget he actually ACCEPTED the Indianapolis Colts head coaching job in 2018 and then withdrew hours later. Trust might still be a factor in whether or not a team wants to hire McDaniels, but I think he will stay in New England either way.
Nick Saban: +2500
Nick Saban rounds out the list with the longest odds and is one of the more notable names in the candidate mix. He is a storied college head coach with a career 255–65–1 head coaching record on the collegiate level. Would St. Nick really consider a return to the NFL?
Saban proved he might not be the best fit as an NFL head coach when he took over the Miami Dolphins in 2005 and left after the 2006 season with an NFL head coaching record of 15-17. Fun fact: Quinn, whose firing is the reason for the Falcons’ search, served under Saban with the Dolphins as a defensive line coach.
Saban has been at the helm of Alabama since 2007 and it’s fair to say he’s had much more success on the college level. The Falcons would love to have Saban but it’s probably not a logical fit right now. I would skip putting money on these long odds, which should actually be 150-1. Saban has it way too good at Alabama to take an NFL job.