Raheem Morris 2.0: Some things will be different with Falcons, but ‘vibe’ remains the same

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — When Cadillac Williams was drafted by Tampa Bay with the fifth pick of the 2005 NFL Draft, he was a 23-year-old star out of Auburn. The man who was the Buccaneers’ assistant defensive backs coach was only five years older at the time.

Four years later, that man was his head coach. Raheem Morris was 32 years and 4 months old when he took over the top job in Tampa Bay, making him the second-youngest man to lead an NFL team in the league’s modern era at the time. (His future boss Sean McVay would knock him down to third on that list eight years later.)

“Now that I am 42 and thinking about him being in his early 30s, in some cases you have guys on the team that are actually older than him and he’s trying to lead and he’s so young,” Williams said, “what’s crazy is that as young as he was, (he was) so good in that role.”

His Buccaneers weren’t very good, though. They went 17-31 from 2009 to 2011 under Morris with the highlight being a 10-6 season in 2010 in which the Bucs finished third in the NFC South. Morris was fired after the 2011 season.

Raheem Morris, right, says he will be less of a know-it-all and focused more on the entire team in Atlanta than he was in his first head-coaching stint in Tampa Bay. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

The people who were there with him then believe he’ll be better now while stressing they believe he was pretty good then and a victim of circumstance as much as his own inexperience.

“It’s going to go back with me to the way he cares about people, the way he is able to empower the people around him,” said Williams, who led Tampa Bay in rushing in Morris’ first season as head coach. “I just think that he is a guy that wants to help other people thrive. He can develop people in a way that’s uncanny, to be honest with you.”

GO DEEPER

Pre-training camp NFL Power Rankings: Chiefs and 49ers reign, Texans and Bears on the rise

Rich Bisaccia and Morris both started their NFL head coach careers in Tampa Bay in 2002, Bisaccia as special teams coordinator and Morris as a defensive quality control coach, and Bisaccia served as Morris’ assistant head coach and special teams coordinator in 2009 and 2010.

“He never has a bad day,” said Bisaccia, now the Packers’ assistant head coach and special teams coordinator “He’s got tremendous energy, and he always sees what could be better going forward.”

Bisaccia is surprised it took Morris 13 years to get a second chance as a head coach, but Morris has been careful to say that he carries no resentment for having to wait for another shot at the job. He’s grateful to have had even one chance to be a head coach in the league, much less two, or, as he tallies it, 2 1/2. Morris counts his 11 games as the Falcons’ interim head coach following Dan Quinn’s firing in 2020 as a half-year.

Morris said he will be less of a know-it-all and more focused on the entire team than he was in his first official stint as a head coach.

“In Tampa, I was calling the defense, I didn’t care what the offense was doing,” he said.

But he still believes the attitude he brings is his differentiator and will be the Falcons’.

“I want to bring a different vibe to how we view our football team,” he said. “It’s really about relationships. Our relationships have to be different. Those things translate to the football field, they translate to wins. For me, it’s about my own personal juice and energy and vibe. That stuff is what changes the game.”

He is approaching this training camp not as a grind but as a long busman’s holiday.

“Training camp is the best time ever for coaches,” Morris said. “When is the other time you get to do football, shower three times a day and feel good about life and go to work? It’s awesome. It’s the ultimate selfish moment.”

GO DEEPER

Falcons' best-case (and worst-case) scenarios for the 2024 season

Morris “brings life to everything,” said Falcons first-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, who worked with Morris the last three seasons in Los Angeles.

“Obviously, Raheem is the funniest guy ever,” Robinson said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been around Rah when he’s been in a bad mood or that he hasn’t said something that makes you laugh.”

While vibes alone aren’t likely to carry the Falcons to their long-term goals, they have helped in the short term. They finished 7-10 in each of the last three seasons and lost four of their last five games last year, including an embarrassing 48-17 loss to archrival New Orleans in the final game.

“He’s got great energy, that’s the first thing you notice,” Falcons veteran offensive lineman Jake Matthews said. “The way he described it is he’s trying to breathe life into the team and be our greatest motivator, a guy that holds people accountable but at the same time builds people up.”

Raheem Morris’ experience working with some of the NFL’s best coaches makes his friends confident he’ll succeed with the Falcons. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

Morris should be better at balancing accountability with ego boosting this time because he has spent so much time around proven head coaches since his time in Tampa Bay, Bisaccia said. After being fired, Morris worked alongside McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Mike McDaniel and Matt LaFleur in Washington and then spent two years working with Shanahan in Atlanta in 2015 and 2016 and the last three seasons under McVay in Los Angeles.

“Hopefully, that’s what wisdom has given him,” Bisaccia said. “He’s probably worked on his temperament and his personality on how he’s going to react when adversity hits or when prosperity hits. I’m sure he’ll be better at that. It looks like Raheem has certainly gained wisdom into what that position holds and what it means to be in front of a team every day. He’s a tremendous leader.”

Quinn called Morris “the rare both” for his ability to combine motivation with the technical aspects of the job.

The motivational side is certainly working with the young players on a roster that will need several of those players to elevate their game this season.

Falcons outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie said his first phone call with Morris “was dope.”

“He’s a great guy, such an easy, outgoing person,” Ebiketie said. “He’s also someone who can push you.”

Second-year linebacker Zach Harrison said the energy in Atlanta’s practice facility “is just different.”

“Guys are excited to go to work for coach Raheem,” Harrison said. “I feel like guys really appreciate his energy and the ability to be themselves.”

“He brings the juice, that’s for sure,” wide receiver Darnell Mooney said. “He brings that confidence in a player to go out there and dominate. It’s not just drilling you, drilling you, drilling you. He gets you to a place where you can push yourself.”

GO DEEPER

Falcons mailbag: What does success look like after offseason makeover?

Linebacker Kaden Elliss, who is entering his sixth year in the league, also is impressed but acknowledges that a good mood can be hard to maintain through the rigors of an NFL season.

“The energy they are bringing every day is special and it hasn’t dropped off yet,” he said. “I don’t believe it will, but if it does, I’ll have to tell them.”

The Falcons will hold their first practice of the preseason Thursday morning. Wednesday was filled with mundane back-to-school tasks like dorm room move in, player photos and meetings.

“I think Rah is super authentic,” Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates said after his arrival for his second season in Atlanta. “You talk to guys all around the league, from players to coaches, and everybody speaks very highly of him. We had OTAs together and Rah lived up to it. Just excited to have him throughout a whole season and see how we respond and play for a guy like him.”

(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photo: John Bazemore / Associated Press)