Here’s a possible timeline for Falcons hiring their new executives
The Falcons kicked off their interviews for remaking of the franchise Thursday.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank wants to hire the president of football first and then move to the general manager and coach.
The Falcons interviewed Detroit executive Mike Disner and Carolina executive Brandt Tilis on Thursday. The team also will conduct interviews Friday.
In their last coaching search, the Falcons hired Raheem Morris on Jan. 25, 2024 after they interviewed 14 candidates, including Bill Belichick and Jim Harbaugh.
In 2021, coach Arthur Smith was hired Jan. 15 and general manager Terry Fontenot was hired four days later. The Falcons had a head start after firing Dan Quinn five games into the 2020 season.
In 2015, the Falcons had to wait until after the Super Bowl to announce Feb. 2 that Quinn had been hired.
So based on the historical data, the Falcons could have their new executives in place by late January or early February.
Disner is Detroit’s chief operating officer and has been with the Lions for 19 seasons. He has worked with both the football and business management teams, overseeing the football operations and administration. He started his career with the Patriots in 2007 as a scouting assistant, after being an intern in 2005 and 2006. Disner earned a degree in economics from Williams College.
Tilis is the executive vice president of football operations for the Panthers. He’s been with the Panthers for only a year after spending 14 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs where he helped build three Super Bowl winners — 2019, 2022 and 2023 — as the director of football administration and later vice president of football operations.
Former quarterback Matt Ryan, currently an analyst for CBS, is also a candidate for the president’s position.
He was the Falcons’ starting quarterback from 2008-21, starting 222 games for the team. He guided the team to two NFC championship games and one Super Bowl trip. He’s the lone player in franchise history to win the NFL MVP award.
So is Josh Williams. The 49ers director of scouting and football operations, was a finalist for the Jacksonville GM job last season. Williams is in his 14th season with the 49ers. He worked his way up from being an area scout. He’s a native of Santa Rosa, California, who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Columbia University in 2010.
The Sportsology Group is helping with the search process.
“They’ve got great experience in multiple sports in that regard, including the NFL,” Blank said Thursday. “They pointed out some things to us, so they’ll help with the search, particularly in terms of the general manager search.”
Blank discussed the makeup of the franchise’s search committee.
“Our search committee will be structured a little bit differently than it has been in the past,” Blank said. “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.”
Things will move faster once the president of football is in place.
“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,” Blank said.
Blank has hired six coaches, including Jim Mora (26-22, one trip to the playoffs), Bobby Petrino (3-10), Mike Smith (66-46, four), Dan Quinn (43-42, two), Arthur Smith (21-30) and Raheem Morris (16-18). Over that 21-year period, the Falcons went to the playoffs seven times.
“Well, I think we’ve gotten a lot of things right with a lot of coaches over the years,” Blank said. “I mean, I look back at the period of Mike Smith and Dan Quinn, and those years when we had no history of winning. We won consistently during that 12-year period of time.”
Smith had five consecutive winning seasons, but was fired after two losing seasons.
Quinn took the Falcons to Super Bowl 51 in the 2016 season and to the divisional round of the playoffs the following season. He was fired five games into the 2020 season.
“I think you learn something from every experience you go through and try to fine-tune the model and try to refine it and make it clearer as to what your expectations are,” Blank said. “Make sure there’s clear communications, the same vision, holding people accountable, and holding people accountable in a performance-based business, which is what the NFL is really important.”
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
