It's been a bumpy road for Raheem Morris across the last couple of weeks. He was fired by the Atlanta Falcons and promptly replaced by Kevin Stefanski, but coaching interest has dried up so much that Morris even considered taking a break from coaching for a year to work in sports media.
Given not everyone agreed with his firing in the first place, the the 49-year-old sought another shot to be a head coach in an ideal world. But we don't live in a utopia where we all get what we want, since the only team who's considering hiring Morris to be their next head coach is the Arizona Cardinals.
Raheem Morris is waiting out head coaching chances - he’s involved in Arizona search - but is expected to have multiple defensive coordinator looks should he not get a head job, per sources.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 21, 2026
Morris has close ties to Kyle Shanahan (SF), Matt LaFleur (GB) and Dan Quinn (WSH). pic.twitter.com/l6oVmbl1MY
ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler revealed that while Morris is still involved in the Cardinals' search, the more likely outcome is that he takes a defensive coordinator job. The expectation is he would be among the most sought-after DC candidates available, mainly because of his coaching connections.
Raheem Morris still has a chance to become a head coach, but things aren't looking bright
What Fowler's report failed to reveal is that two of the three head coaching gigs Morris interviewed for have already been filled. The New York Giants hired John Harbaugh and the Tennessee Titans hired Robert Saleh, so he's putting all of his eggs in the Arizona basket at the moment.
Fowler also revealed some potential landing spots for the Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator, which are all relatively similar due to his ties to the Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay coaching tree.. He named Green Bay, San Francisco, and Washington as places Morris could potentially end up as DC.
The Packers just lost DC Jeff Hafley, who took the Miami Dolphins' head coaching job, and Morris has been a popular pick to replace him. He and Matt LaFleur were offensive assistants together for two seasons before he left, and they both were top lieutenants to McVay before becoming head coaches.
As for the Niners, they just lost Robert Saleh to Tennessee and Morris could be in play there. Like LaFleur, Morris has those same ties to Kyle Shanahan from serving on past Atlanta coaching staffs, most notably the 2016 team where Matt Ryan won the MVP and they went to the Super Bowl.
Obviously, we all know Dan Quinn was the head coach of that Falcons' Super Bowl team, but Morris also took over as interim coach when he was fired in 2020. Now that he's in Washington, he needs trusted assistants on the staff, and both cast-off Dirty Birds coaches could reunite in DC.
Say what you want about Morris as a head coach, but players want to play for him and he's more than earned a top DC job. Here's hoping it all works out for him somewhere else.