The Falcons continue to lie about Rich McKay’s involvement in the organization

Good ole’ Rich McKay — the CEO of the Atlanta Falcons — made his media rounds Tuesday, appearing on 680 The Fan’s Cellini and Dimino. The hosts didn’t pull punches, pressing McKay about his involvement on the football side of things, which led to some revealing answers.

Given the murky nature of McKay’s role within the organization, it’s worth retracing how we got here. McKay served as the Falcons’ general manager from 2003 through 2007 — an underwhelming stretch that preceded the Matt Ryan era. When Thomas Dimitroff was hired, McKay was promoted to CEO, a role he’s held since 2008.

McKay’s fingerprints are everywhere — from his influence in the league office to his central role in the construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. But things get murkier around the time the Falcons hired Arthur Smith. As public criticism of McKay’s involvement in football operations mounted, the organization tried to quell the noise by insisting he was no longer part of day-to-day football decisions.

That proved false the moment Smith was fired after the 2023 season. When the decision was announced, McKay sat alongside Arthur Blank, and it was those two who led the ensuing coaching search. Later, it came out that Smith met weekly with both men after every game.

That search — steered by Blank and McKay — ended with the hiring of Raheem Morris, but not before the embarrassing Bill Belichick saga, which exposed an internal power struggle within the Falcons front office.

“My understanding is Blank went into the process wanting to hire Belichick as coach,” Albert Breer writes. “But those around the owner, fearing what that could mean for them, nudged him in different directions. After a while, the amount of change hiring Belichick could require weighed on Blank. Especially when taking into consideration that making that amount of change might only get him two years of Belichick.”

Avoiding Belichick might have been the correct choice in hindsight, given the current fiasco going on in Chapel Hill, but that doesn’t excuse how the process unfolded — one that clearly prioritized preserving certain jobs over finding the right coach.

After Morris was hired, the Falcons once again tried to push McKay into the background. In the team’s official press release, they declared he was completely done with day-to-day football operations. 

“The Atlanta Falcons are naming Raheem Morris as the team’s new head coach. Morris and Falcons General Manager, Terry Fontenot, will report directly to Arthur M. Blank, Atlanta Falcons owner and chairman on all football matters. Rich McKay remains CEO of AMB Sports and Entertainment (AMBSE) and continues to represent the team on league matters and the NFL’s Competition Committee. Greg Beadles remains President of the Falcons and will continue overseeing all day-to-day business operations.”

It was the same recycled talking point they’ve used for years — that McKay has no involvement in football decisions. But during Tuesday’s interview, McKay himself confirmed otherwise, admitting he sat in on meetings with Blank and Morris following the team’s humiliating loss to the Dolphins.

“I was in that meeting (Monday following the Dolphins game).” McKay said. He (Arthur Blank) does do that. He’s great that way. A lot of the coaches have done that, right? They sit there and have a debrief. It’s not a long meeting, but it’s a good meeting. Questions can get asked.”

This is not something that a lot of coaches outside of Atlanta are doing. A meeting with the owner is one thing; a meeting with the owner and the team’s CEO — who is supposed to be out of day-to-day football operations — on the Monday after a game for a “debrief” is what a clown show looks like. The same one the Falcons have been running for decades, led by the two faces that deserve the most blame — Arthur Blank and Rich McKay.

As long as those two are as involved as they are, this organization will go nowhere. The sleaziness in which they’ve continued to lie about McKay’s role is remarkable, and there’s only one reason not to tell the truth about it — to avoid blame. Something Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk described beautifully back in 2024: 

“McKay falls into that very rare category that is prevalent with a lot of teams where if things go well you’re basking in the glow and if things don’t, ‘Hey, I’m not in football operations, don’t fire me.’ But he’s the guy who’s whispering to Arthur Blank this is what you should do.”

Rich McKay has wielded more influence than anyone in the organization for over two decades, all while avoiding accountability for the Falcons’ failures — through two general managers, four head coaches, and now an eight-year playoff drought.

Nobody has it better than Rich McKay. And nobody has it worse than Falcons fans.

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Photographer: Todd Kirkland/Icon Sportswire

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