ESPN senior writer Bill Barnwell ranked every NFL head coach since 2021, and the Atlanta Falcons have two duds near the bottom of the list. To start, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald and Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, both coaches the Falcons chose Raheem Morris over, are in the top five.
The Dirty Birds have hired two head coaches since 2021, and they are ranked 22nd and 24th out of 37 coaches listed. That stat alone is how the 2020s have gone so far for the Falcons. Full of what-ifs, opportunity, and disappointment, so hopefully Kevin Stefanski can rewrite the narrative in that area.
We're here to discuss those two head coaches Arthur Blank decided to hire and fire after a few disappointing seasons and those placements.
Raheem Morris and Arthur Smith are the Falcons' two disappointing entries on ESPN's top head coaching list
The highest former head coach on this list, Arthur Smith, is in the perfect spot. The reason he isn't behind Morris is likely due to the poor QB play during his tenure in Atlanta. Smith was the head coach from 2021 to 2023 and oversaw the drafting of Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts.
He coached Matt Ryan's final season in Atlanta before subsequently trading him to the Colts for next to nothing. Smith followed up a disappointing 7-10 first season with two-more 7-10 seasons. Each year, the draft yielded another offensive star whom Smith failed to establish in his scheme.
Pitts faltered in back-to-back seasons, and the Falcons' offense was in the bottom third of the league statistically every season. No. 22 is a decent placement for Smith, right in head coach purgatory for a guy who can't even land an NFL OC job.
Morris, on the other hand should be slightly higher. Maybe this is recency bias, but after all, the Falcons' first 13 games of the 2025 season were a complete disaster. Atlanta started 3-2, beat the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football, and seemed well past the 30-0 rout they suffered in Week 3 against the Panthers.
After an 8-9 first season in Atlanta, Morris seemed to be improving, but then the wheels fell off completely, and the Falcons crashed and burned. Atlanta lost seven of its next eight games, including a trio of heartbreaking losses to the Patriots by one, and the Colts and Panthers in overtime.
Morris led the Falcons to four straight wins to end the season, but the damage was done long beforehand.
On the list, former Saints head coach Dennis Allen, who posted an 18-25 record, is sandwiched in between Morris and Smith. Despite my disdain for the 49-year-old, his final month stretch in Atlanta should have propelled him past Allen.
Needless to say, it's been a dramatic and infuriating last five seasons in Atlanta. Despite interviewing the two future Super Bowl LX head coaches, one of whom will almost certainly win Coach of the Year, the Falcons haven't gotten anything important right.
Few things went well during their time in Atlanta, but the Falcons finally have new hope under Stefanski and Ian Cunningham. When the next rendition of this article is published in five years, let's hope Stefanski nears the top of the list. If not, this will get even sadder for the Dirty Birds.