Falcons owner Arthur Blank spoke to reporters for the first time on Friday about his conversations with Bill Belichick during the team’s head coaching search.
Belichick had a pair of interviews with the Falcons and was seen as a leading candidate for the job for a time, but the Falcons ultimately hired Raheem Morris to replace the fired Arthur Smith. In the aftermath of that decision, there were reports that Belichick was looking for the same kind of full control over football operations that he enjoyed during his time as the Patriots head coach.
On Friday, Blank said that was not the case.
“Bill Belichick never asked in our discussions for full control of personnel or anything else in the building. . . . all of these things that were being produced by the media were totally not true,” Blank said, via Mike Conti of 92.9 The Game.
Blank also responded to Boomer Esiason saying on his WFAN radio show that he heard the Falcons offered Belichick the job at one point in their conversations. Blank said he has “no idea” where Esiason heard that because it is also untrue.
