Rich McKay: ‘I can’t predict to you how this one will play out’

Q: Why must GM candidates factor in Julio Jones and Matt Ryan into the team and will that reduce the pool of GM candidates?

A: It won’t affect the pool or the process. What it will affect is the idea of the discussion. When you’re talking to those candidates, you want to understand from them what their plan is. What their vision is for all of your roster. Literally, all of your roster. Part of that roster, especially on the high end of that roster, how do view our high-end players? What’s your vision for them? How do they fit? What’s your short-, mid- and long-term plan. All I’m saying is when it comes to players like that, especially with the caliber that they are, you are going to have that discussion. We had it back in the day when we were talking to Dan Quinn and he was talking about Matt and Julio. … The challenge is that you are hiring both the head coach and a GM. You are trying to understand what their visions are, and then you’re trying to let them kind of come together with a joint vision.

Q: When was the last time that you had this much input in hiring a coach?

A: Dan Quinn. I was both in charge of the process at that point. Remember, it was a weird time for us. We’d let (coach) Mike Smith go. Thomas was … it was debated. I led the search. Thomas was clearly in the search. I did it there. I don’t get to let go of the (Bobby) Petrino one … and (Jim) Mora. I think one of the things that Arthur gets credit for is that he’s hired four coaches, one was for six months. Six months longer than what I’ve ever want to remember, but three of those coaches all have winning records. I think they are the only three in the history (of the franchise). He’s pretty good at it. Our job is, we’re not going to make the decision, Arthur is pretty good at that. But we’re in charge of making sure we vet it, take it all the way there. Give him the limited candidates and say ‘here we go.’ That’s what we did before, that’s what we’ll do this time. (Also, McKay is credited with hiring Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden with Tampa Bay. The Bucs were set to hire Marvin Lewis, but they were able to strike a late deal with Al Davis to get Gruden.)

Q: Has the talent level of the team been overstated and that’s why we’re seeing the losing seasons, 7-9, 7-9 and maybe 6-10 or 4-12?

A: Good question. I don’t think I’m going to answer it. I think I’ll leave that to ... That’s a postseason question. ... I’m proud of our football team for one thing and that is working their (expletive) off to get ready every week and play a game. I’m as disappointed in the record as (the fans) are.

Q: Where does Raheem Morris stand in the process?

A: He will definitely in the process be interviewed. He’s earned that right. I’ve known Raheem a long time. I remember when we hired him in Tampa as an assistant secondary coach. He is really a good football coach. He inherited a situation. We were 0-5. When you’re an interim coach with 11 weeks to go, that’s more than challenging. He’s earned that right to be interviewed, and he will.

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

Q: Do you have a preference as to the order here, GM first and then coach, or are you going to try to marry the two somehow?

A: It’s really hard. Just think back to the Mike Smith and Thomas Dimitroff time period. We went in there, and I used to be the GM, so it was the first time I’d hired a GM and been a part of that. We went in with the idea of hiring the GM first. Let’s do that and let the GM be a part of the process. We were going through the process of interviewing people. We had a bunch of GM interviews in person. New England would not allow us to interview Thomas in person so we were doing a literal webinar, which was not this clear (as the AJC’s virtual interview with McKay). ... It made it difficult. We kind of agreed on Thomas after we’d taken Mike Smith all the way to the end. So, before we pulled the trigger on Mike Smith as the hire, we let Thomas come in and talk to him. That was a two-hour meeting, that’s what it was. I can’t predict to you how this one will play out. It would be nice that the GM is hired before the coach, but it could very well be that the coach is hired before the GM. Either way, the mix of the two does matter. It does matter. You want to make sure that you’ve got a commonality of plan.

Q: What will be the role of analytics and the six core values of Blank’s companies?

A: The six core values is in the book that we have in front of us (Blank’s book “Good Company”). I would say that analytics plays a part in everything that we do in sports today. Whether we are selling tickets. I was on a ticket call this morning. Analytics plays a part in all of that. For us, our GM research, we have (the public relations) group do a media review of each candidate. We have our analytics group do an analytics review of each candidate, their drafts, their free agency. If they are pro guys, we look at free agency. If they are college guys, we look at their drafts. So, that world is important. Thomas did a really good job driving that. We created a football-analytics department. He really created it. They will play a part. It will be up to the GM and the coach as to how much they are going to incorporate that into their daily use. We’re, as an organization, between Dan and Thomas, were definitely driving toward using a lot of that information.

Q: How competitive do you see this process as there will be several openings?

A: It will be competitive, but it can’t drive your time line. You have to let interviews happen. You have to take your time. You have to get it right. You can’t get caught up in the moment. I think we’ll be good at that because I think we’ve learned. That’s what we did even in the last one where we interviewed and a lot of teams wanted to hire Dan Quinn. We knew that we had a problem because you weren’t able to hire him as he’s proceeding through (the playoffs). Other candidates were leaving. They were just leaving, but we were OK. We had a big list. If we don’t get Dan, we still have a big list. That’s the way you have to look at this. I believe our job will be attractive. These jobs start with ownership. That’s how people measure them. I was once looking for a job, the only think I worried about is ownership. The second thing is where am I going to live. That’s going to matter to me. Then, I’ll worry about the football team because in my mind, with the (competitive balance) in the league, you can win in this league very quickly. In 2007, we took a 4-12 team that many people said we weren’t going to win forever and we won the next year, we were in the playoffs. Should have won a playoff game on the road out in Arizona.

Q: What’s the sales pitch to make you the most attractive?

A: Ownership. Ownership. Ownership. It starts with people that are willing to give you all of the support you need to win. Willing to give you all the finances you need to win and are not going to live their life second-guessing everything you do. I think Arthur does that extremely well. We had one GM over the last 12-plus years. There are teams that have had seven in that time. Teams that have had four. A lot of them have had three. I think we’ve proven that there is a way to let them do their gig and us give them the support that they need. I think that sells well. Atlanta is a really good place to live, and the guys in our league know that.

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@

Q: Structure-wise, are you all staying with the co-team builder approach or will the GM have traditional powers?

A: Very good question. The answer will depend on the people. It’s going to depend on who those people are what their skill set is. Are they a first-time GM? Are they a veteran GM? Are they a first-time coach? Are they a veteran coach? With Mike and Thomas, we had two first-timers. First-time GM. First-time coach. We went more traditional. We went Thomas, you’ve got all of this. Then when Dan came, we had a different situation with three teams trying to hire him at the same time that we were. The way we split it up at that point is that we gave Thomas (the 90-man roster) and Dan (the 53-man roster). I don’t know what that answer is. It will depend on the people and what their strengths are. What they give us as a vision and what they want from a structure standpoint.

Q: What made Anthony Robinson and Rick Smith attractive to interview virtually?

A: We can’t interview anybody that works for another team until the season is over. Rick is out on the streets, so we could interview Rick. I know Rick. I’ve worked with Rick for a lot of years. He was on the competition committee with me for a lot of years. So, I knew Rick. Rick is a very qualified candidate. Rick is going to get interviewed by every team, and he should. Anthony Robinson is an example of a guy that literally has worked it up to go all the way in this process to get the director of college scouting. He’s someone that we have a lot of respect for and think has a lot of runway. So, those are just two that we wanted to do. It gave us an opportunity to figure out as we are doing today, how does this all work virtually. Giving them an opportunity to interview. It was a really good experience for us. Those are two really good candidates. … It was very productive. It was not quite like Thomas, where I was looking at a phone and trying to see if I could see him. It was so hard to see in those days on the WebEX or whatever we were using. It’s a little better now.

Q: What do you tell the next GM what your role is going to be going down the road, and do you have to make any sort of assurances that you are going to be out of the way?

A: If you look back at 2007, we had the same kind of discussion then. I was coming out of being the GM. All of a sudden now I’m going to spend time as the president, and everybody was like, aren’t you really going to (get in the way). … I kind of say it this way. I haven’t sat in a draft meeting since 2007. I haven’t sat in a free-agency meeting since ’07. I go to the same meetings that Arthur goes to. So, we’ll go to the summary meetings, and we’ll say, ‘what are we doing this week and why.’ … Show me the salary-cap budget. I’ll do that. ... Shame on me if I make a decision that way because I haven’t watched the tape. I haven’t seen the players. I’m running the business side of the business. On the football side, I’m trying to give them enough support so that I know when they need something, we give it to them. If they want to ask me a question, and they do, I’ll give them my opinion. But I’m never going to go down that path. I’ve been the GM. I would not be happy if somebody came to me and said let’s draft (player A) and don’t draft (player B) because I haven’t seen the tape. If you want (player A), you’re going to tell me why. So that’s kind of the way we look at it.

Q: How are you all pick-wise and salary cap-wise? My agents and other team executives keep pointing to Jacksonville’s picks, all this money and maybe Trevor Lawrence.

A: We like our core players. We have some players here that are very good players and playing at a very high level. Grady Jarrett was just named to the Pro Bowl. We have players playing at a high level and they are getting paid a lot of money, therefore they impact the cap. I think pick-wise, we only have six out of seven. I think we are going to get between one and three (compensatory) picks. We’ll end up with eight or nine picks. … Salary-cap wise, we are tight to the cap. We have a lot of players under contract. There is no question that a GM and a coach with a shared vision will have a way to maneuver that. I did grow up in a time when we had a lot of good players and we were tight to the cap (in Tampa Bay). Actually, on certain weeks we didn’t have our full allotment of practice players because we could not afford to have them at practice. …I’ve seen tight caps. I’m convince that people view that as something that is maneuverable.

Q: How much will the scheme factor in and who else they have lined up for the coaching staff?

A: You want to hear what they are saying, but you always want to understand (for the scheme), you say you’re getting (coach A) and you say he runs this scheme. Tell me why. Will the players fit? Where do you see it in the future? Tell us all of that because I’m not thoroughly convinced that (coach A) is coming. He may be under contract to another team that does not have to give us permission to let (coach A) come. My greatest example of that was Tony Dungy, who was very specific to me that Jim Haslett was coming as a coordinator. He was a great coordinator. Really liked him. Jim Haslett’s wife was pregnant, and he didn’t come. We got this other guy, the linebacker coach Monte Kiffin. I would say Monte Kiffin turned out really good. Those things, you ask about them. You want to hear names. But you also want to understand that it may not happen. In Quinn’s case, he was very specific. ‘I want Kyle Shanahan.’ I want that scheme, and I want him. If you remember, I think we had people writing articles trying to get us in trouble for this, we were not in trouble ... but we actually hired Kyle before we hired Dan. That was because we knew that was a big part of what we liked, and it appealed to us. It was a scheme that we had run before back in the Michael Vick days. It was a scheme that we were interested in getting back to. That’s what we did. In that case, we did listen to it, and yes that person did come, but it’s not always guaranteed.

Q: So, everything will pick up after the end of the regular season?

A: The night after everybody’s last game. That Sunday night, you can begin to ask for permission. You can ask for permission on coaches. You can ask for permission on GMs. Remember on GMs, no team has to grant you permission while they are in the playoffs. They can decide yes. They can decide no. In Thomas’ case, they said yes, but he can’t come to Atlanta. You can do it virtually. That’s what we did. We followed with they (New England) told us. … I think virtually allows us all to get a lot of these done because … you don’t have all of those issues of logistics of getting a coach from here to there, a GM from here to there. Whatever it may be, you don’t have those logistical challenges. You can do it on Zoom or on Teams because we’re a Microsoft company.

Falcons’ 2021 draft position

1. Jacksonville

2. New York Jets

3. Cincinnati

4. Carolina

5. Falcons

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