Just after midnight on Monday morning, Arthur Blank, the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, confirmed the termination of head coach Arthur Smith. Blank may have done this because he intends to go big-game hunting this winter.
Following Sunday’s NFL action, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said that “no less than a half dozen people I’ve talked to over the past week have linked the Falcons to (New England Patriots) coach Bill Belichick.”
On Monday, Belichick’s potential landing destination was mentioned by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network and Dianna Russini of The Athletic (via Yahoo! Sports).
Belichick is under contract through the 2024 season and suggested Monday morning that he could give up personnel control to remain with the Patriots after they missed the playoffs for a third time in four years under his
observe. Being 72 years old this April, head coach of the Patriots and six-time Super Bowl champion will likely stay on even if team president Jonathan Kraft and owner Robert Kraft decide to take a different route. Belichick is just 15 wins away from breaking the NFL record for the most career victories of any head coach (regular season and postseason combined).
Rather than letting Belichick go undrafted, the Krafts might try to trade his rights to a team like the Falcons. Belichick can almost compel the Krafts to dismiss him, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pointed out on Monday morning. He is not have to accept a trade to an organization.
Breer added that he has “heard that Blank has at least looked into the concept of hiring Belichick” or Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh.
“One connected source said, ‘I wouldn’t sleep on Atlanta’ with Harbaugh to replace Smith,” Breer wrote.
Harbaugh “has evaluated openings in anticipation of a potential return to pro football after Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship game” between Michigan and the Washington Huskies, according to reports over the weekend from Rapoport and fellow NFL Network presenter Tom Pelissero.The San Francisco 49ers were led by Harbaugh to Super Bowl XLVII, but they were defeated by the Baltimore Ravens. He apparently thought about playing for the Indianapolis Colts or Denver Broncos last winter, but he decided to stay at Michigan instead. However, this was before the program was embroiled in a highly publicized sign-stealing incident.
