FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons are in search of the organization's 20th head coach in franchise history. The organization parted ways with Raheem Morris after the team's final game of the 2025 season. A new-look leadership group — including Falcons President of Football Matt Ryan — began the hunt to find his successor with the assistance of ZRG Partners and Sportsology Group.
"Our search committee will be structured a little bit differently than it has been in the past," Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Thursday. "[It will] still be made up of a component of people that represent our leadership in all areas of our businesses, but we're going to put heavy emphasis, we're hiring this president of football first. That's the goal, and over the next couple of days, we have a series of interviews set up. We want to get that person in their seat and have them lead the interviews for the head coach and general manager position going forward."
The Falcons will announce these interviews after they are completed with each candidate. We'll provide those updates here, along with relevant information and background about each candidate.
The NFL has specific rules for how and when teams can conduct these interviews. They are outlined here.
The Falcons have officially completed an interview with Mike McDaniel for their head coach position.
Interview date: Monday, Jan. 12
Previous role: McDaniel was the Miami Dolphins' head coach from 2022-25.
Resume highlights:
- At the helm of the Dolphins franchise, McDaniel led Miami to back-to-back playoff appearances in 2022 and 2023. This was the first time in over 20 years the franchise had consecutive postseason berths.
- Prior to taking the Miami head coaching job, McDaniel was the San Francisco 49ers' offensive coordinator in 2021 after being promoted from run game coordinator following the 2020 season.
- Since joining the league in 2015 as an intern with the Denver Broncos, McDaniel has held positions with the Houston Texans (offensive assistant), Washington Redskins (offensive assistant and wide receivers coach), Cleveland Browns (wide receivers coach), and Atlanta Falcons (offensive assistant).
Local connection: As stated above, McDaniel was an offensive assistant with the Falcons from 2015-16, which includes being a part of the staff during the team's Super Bowl run. Newly announced president of football — Matt Ryan — was the franchise's quarterback at the time and named league MVP for the 2016 season.
Why he's a candidate: McDaniel's resume showcases an individual with broad NFL experience with multiple different organizations, coaches and rosters, plus a track record of early success upon taking over his respective responsibilities.
Within two years of becoming the Miami head coach, McDaniel helped the Dolphins become one of the most productive and powerful offenses in 2023, when they led the league in scoring and yardage and broke franchise records.
Two years after becoming the 49ers' run game coordinator, McDaniel's unit finished No. 2 in rushing yards and scored more rushing touchdowns than any team in the league.
It's well-documented that McDaniel comes from the Mike and Kyle Shanahan coaching tree, which prides itself on creative offensive concepts and a heavy run game emphasis. Combining this with what the Falcons already have in Bijan Robinson, many returning and experienced offensive linemen as well as a developing quarterback in Michael Penix Jr. could create something intriguing. It should be said, too, that McDaniel isn't so rigid within his scheme to force a player into it, either. He has been known to tailor schemes around players' strengths, operating in a more fluid capacity with game planning. This could be beneficial for someone like Penix as he develops and grows into his own in 2026.
