This is not the Bill Belichick slam dunk it felt like it could be.
The Falcons’ coaching search seemed to be moving toward the hiring of Belichick after they conducted two interviews with the six-time Super Bowl champ, flying him in on one of owner Arthur Blank’s private jets for the second one.
That was now nearly a week ago and the list of candidates just keep growing and growing, with the team now listing 15 candidates on its coaching tracker after firing Arthur Smith after a 7-10 season.
Former Titans coach Mike Vrabel was the latest added to the list when he interviewed with the Falcons on Wednesday.
The list of potential hires also lost a name Wednesday when Jim Harbaugh canceled his second interview in Atlanta and accepted the Chargers’ head coaching job.
Two other candidates had previously accepted head-coaching jobs elsewhere, with Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan replacing Mike Vrabel for the Titans and Antonio Pierce being named the full-time head coach for the Raiders after having success as the interim coach this past season.
The full list of 15 candidates: Belichick; Vrabel; Harbaugh; Callahan; Pierce; Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero; Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris; Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn; Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson; Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik; Ravens assistant Anthony Weaver; Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald; Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady; ex-Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported last week the Falcons’ search was “wide open” and there has been little reported progress since Belichick’s second interview.
“That doesn’t sound like a team who is ready to make a move on Bill Belichick…,” Schefter said Thursday morning on “Get Up” when discussing the Falcons approach. “The Falcons have shown they are interested in a lot of people … If it’s wide open after you interviewed Bill Belichick twice, that certainly shows he is not the favorite for the job … There is a real possibility he is not going to get any of these remaining jobs. That’s fascinating on a number of levels.”
Belichick, 71, has not interviewed with any other team this offseason.
Outside of the Falcons, the remaining job openings are the Panthers, Seahawks and Commanders.
Schefter compared Belichick’s free agency to Tom Brady’s and Lamar Jackson’s with teams showing relatively subdued interest in the two generational quarterbacks in recent offseasons.
“Sometimes teams get in the way of themselves and don’t make rational decisions. Here we have the greatest coach of all time, who is sitting there with a lack of interest, which again boggles my mind,” Schefter said. “Teams are worried about maybe his age, his lack of success with New England recently, what he would want to do with that organization. But to me he is still Bill Belichick and you put him on a team and that team is off to the races in the right direction. But that’s not the way teams in this cycle are viewing it.”
