After the Atlanta Falcons fired Raheem Morris, there's been talk about him garnering head coach consideration, especially now that he's set to interview for the Tennessee Titans' coaching vacancy this week. But Morris still might be best suited for a defensive coordinator opportunity in this league.
While the 49-year-old likely desires a second shot as a head coach, he's been floated as a popular DC candidate, which is a better way to get back to the top. Luckily, there are several coordinator openings right now, but his best possible opportunity just became available due to a big firing.
The Dallas Cowboys might be a perfect fit for Morris after they unsurprisingly fired DC Matt Eberflus on Tuesday morning. Their defense was among the worst in football in 2025 despite boasting plenty of talent, and it would be genuinely shocking if they didn't look into bringing in Morris to replace him.
Sources: Dallas Cowboys fired defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. Cowboys now will be going on their fourth different defensive coordinator in four seasons. pic.twitter.com/KupzGun8HE
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 6, 2026
Raheem Morris might be the perfect Matt Eberflus successor for the Dallas Cowboys' DC opening
Eberflus' defense never truly recovered from trading Micah Parsons before the season, which was mainly because like in Atlanta, elite talent couldn't overcome a horrible coaching scheme, but the unit did improve down the stretch after acquiring Quinnen Williams from the Jets at the trade deadline.
With that said though, the defense was still historically bad at points, and it was clear he was a dead man walking after their defense surrendered 34 points to an ailing Giants' offense in Week 18. The Dallas offense was fantastic, but they only missed the playoffs in 2025 because of their defense.
To be brutally honest, Morris is a perfect fit in Dallas because he fits Jerry Jones' MO. Between Dan Quinn, Mike Zimmer, and Eberflus, Jones tends to gravitate towards former head coaches for the Cowboys' defensive coordinators, which is a short list that not many coaches qualify for currently.
The only coach who could possibly be more appealing to the Cowboys for this position is Brian Flores, but even he could land a head coaching job. He's the current favorite to be the next Raiders' head coach, but Jones is often willing to pay top dollar to confirm that Dallas has a top-shelf DC
Jonathan Gannon isn't overly desirable and Pete Carroll needs to head to retirement, so if it's not Flores, Morris is clearly the best option.
Morris is not head coach material, but he's an adequate DC whose leadership style players easily respond to. He was beloved in the locker room and helped anchor Atlanta's defensive turnaround, so there's no doubt in my mind he could do a better job with the Dallas defense than Eberflus did.
Frankly, if he were to land with America's Team, it would be hard to not root for Morris to succeed even though things didn't work out with the Falcons.