The Atlanta Falcons were right in the thick of the John Harbaugh sweepstakes until they weren't. Late last night, the Super Bowl-winning head coach was officially hired as the next head coach of the New York Giants before Arthur Blank and Matt Ryan even had a chance to get him inside the team facility.
The Falcons' odds of landing Harbaugh were always slim, but several conflicting reports led fans to believe they had a better shot of pulling off the upset than they actually did. The Giants were always the frontrunners, but I don't think anyone saw them as the landslide favorites they turned out to be.
During an appearance on the Giants Nation podcast with Bobby Skinner, Giants' beat reporter and ESPN analyst Jordan Ranaan revealed that the 63-year-old was the top choice in New York as soon as he was fired by the Ravens, which is something that Falcons fans were never able to contend with.
""The second John Harbaugh became available, he was their top option. He was their number one choice.""Jordan Ranaan
The Dirty Birds boast a highly attractive coaching job (that is arguably more appealing than the opening in New York), but when Giants' ownership is pulling out all the stops and jumping through every hoop to meet every last demand Harbaugh requests, of course there's gonna be no contest.
Giants' beat reporter confirmed Falcons' pursuit of John Harbaugh was doomed from the start
The Falcons had two days to get started on the coaching search after firing Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot, but Blank was always planning to wait for Ryan to be officially hired as the president of football before kickstarting the search for a new head coach and GM, which set them back in a sense.
Meanwhile, the Giants fired Brian Daboll in the middle of their season, so Ranaan revealed they were keeping a close eye on Harbaugh's status in Baltimore for weeks. He was floated as a potential fit in New York months before he was ever fired, so they had a clear leg up in their head coaching search.
""The Giants were prepared... This was something that was kind of hinted to me by other people around the league... the story was 'hey, you know, I think Harbaugh might end up getting fired in Baltimore ... that relationship might run its course.' The Giants are aware. My understanding, they were doing their preparation.""Jordan Ranaan
To be completely honest, Falcons (and Titans) fans should feel slightly led on. The Titans were supposed to be meeting with him today, while it was never confirmed that the Falcons had a meeing scheduled. It always going to be the Giants who won the Harbaugh sweepstakes, which really stings.
Now that the most coveted head coaching candidate is off the board, Atlanta should pivot to Kevin Stefanski and Klint Kubiak, who likely aren't using them as leverage with the team they really want to be coaching, and would set this team up to instantly compete in the NFC South.