FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons are blocking some of their assistant coaches from interviewing for prospective job opportunities, while searching for their new coach to replace Arthur Smith, a person familiar with the situation told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday.
Firing the head coach also has hurt the 22-member coaching staff and effectively put them in limbo. Most of the assistants are under contract, and the new coach likely will want to bring in his own staff.
“They are blocking, but they are full of (expletive),” the person said. “They aren’t saying we’re keeping you, either. This is not what you do.”
In Tennessee, where Mike Vrabel was fired, the assistant coaches are being allowed to interview and explore their options.
Most of the Falcons coaches are ready to move on. The danger is that they could wait for the team to hire a new coach, but then the new coach could come in and fire all of the assistants while the assistant coaching market dries up.
The Falcons’ assistant coaches could miss out on their opportunities, and they essentially would be getting paid from the Falcons not to work.
“Usually depends on the next HC they hire and who he wants to keep,” one of the assistant coaches wrote in a text to the AJC.
While Smith was fired, the Falcons were impressed with how he and his staff kept the team together through a rough season. Five of the team’s 10 losses were by a total of 16 points. If they had gone 3-2 in those games, they would have won the division at 10-7.
“We’ve been around situations where the coach has lost the locker room – you’ve heard that, seen it, maybe experienced it here, maybe elsewhere you’ve read about it – but this coach never lost the locker room,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said. “I want to be clear on that. It’s a great credit to (Smith) and the other coaches.”
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