Last offseason, Falcons owner Arthur Blankstripped Rich McKay of his general manager duties, although he retained the title of team president. Thomas Dimitroff took over as GM, had a lot to do with bringing Matt Ryan to Atlanta, and some eight months later, the Falcons are headed to the postseason. Along with the Dolphins and Lions, it's easily one of the most amazing stories of 2008.
Despite McKay having no say in personnel matters this season, he was Atlanta's general manager from 2003-2007, and earned a Super Bowl ring during his nine-year stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in that same role.
... [D]espite reports that the Cleveland Browns will interview ... McKay, FOXSports.com has learned that McKay has rebuffed Cleveland's overture. McKay is slated to fly to Phoenix with the Falcons and not New York to meet with Browns owner Randy Lerner.
There were talks between the two sides, but McKay informed them he is happy where he is and did not want to interview for the job or consider it until after the rest of the candidates had run their course in Cleveland.
After surviving (figuratively, not in the dog-fighting sense) the Michael Vick melodrama, I'm guessing McKay wants to enjoy Atlanta's resurgence. Whatever the reason, this is good news for Patriots vice president Scott Pioli.
Falcons President Rich McKay said, "Sembler (Company) and a number of developers contacted us many months back when GM put the site up for sale. I guess one of the concepts being floated by Sembler was a stadium development. We have had preliminary discussions with them."
The Georgia Dome is 16 years old and is in a prime tourist section of Atlanta. However, it has been continuously passed over as a site for a Super Bowl in favor of newer stadiums. The Falcons lease at the Dome is done in 2020 or when they pay off on all the bonds used to build the stadium. That could happen as early as 2015.
The Doraville site is where a closed General Motors plant currently sits and it could take a while for anything to happen. There still isn't a final agreement in the sale of the site by GM, demolition of the site could take 18-22 months and finding funding for any of this will be difficult in our current economic times.
Not to mention that the Falcons and current Georgia Dome owners, the Georgia World Congress Center, about renovating or even rebuilding the dome.
Still, there is time for all options to be explored and the idea of a newer, state-of-the-art retractable roof stadium is very attractive.
The Atlanta Falcons announced today that they have released cornerback Jimmy Williams, their 2006 second-round draft pick.
The release doesn't come as a surprise, considering that Williams never played up to expectations, and that his commitment to the game was questioned when he showed up to workouts weighing more than 230 pounds, or about 20 over his listed weight.
If the release tells us anything, it's that the new regime in Atlanta, headed up by coach Mike Smith and general manager Tom Dimitroff, doesn't think very highly of the players brought in by the old regime, headed up by general manager Rich McKay and coaches Bobby Petrino and Jim Mora.
The National Football League scouting combine is mostly an opportunity to look toward the future, but today the league's Competition Committee met in Indianapolis and discussed a story from the past that isn't going away: Patriotgate.
Atlanta Falcons executive Rich McKay, co-chair of the Competition Committee, said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sat down with committee members to give them an update on where the league's investigation stands on accusations that the Patriots illegally taped their opponents.
"Our role on that is only advisory," McKay said. "The commissioner's office briefed us on what the investigation was and what they found, asked us our opinion on the penalty, and asked us if there's anything from a league perspective that we want to address."
I guess this isn't much of a surprise, Arthur Blank is screwing another coaching search.
Just weeks after Rich McKay was removed as the team's general manager because of his poor drafts and horrible hiring record (Jim Mora Jr. and Bobby Petrino), the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that McKay has been given a new two-year contract and a raise to go with a new title--team president.
So let's get this straight. McKay botched his old job, so he's been given a bigger title and more money, and he's also serving as Blank's main advisor in the decision of who to hire as the team's new general manager and coach. It's not hard to figure out how wrong this is in so many ways.
ESPN is reporting that one of its employees, Bill Parcells, has declined an opportunity to join the Atlanta Falcons as a vice president in charge of football operations.
The reason? According to ESPN, Parcells wants to weigh an offer to take over the front office of the Miami Dolphins.
This leaves the Falcons in a rough position. General manager Rich McKay is likely gone -- it's hard to imagine he would come back after this. So who's running things? Who knows?
If there's anything we've learned about Parcells during his more than two decades as one of the highest-profile figures in the NFL, it's that he loves being the center of attention at this time of year. He frequently allows his name to surface in various searches, makes owners believe he's going to work with them, and then walks away. Now he seems to have done it to Falcons owner Arthur Blank. Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, you may be next.
"I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it. [Owner] Arthur [Blank] and I have had some pretty constructive discussions. I basically will oversee the football operations. We'll meet today -- not in Atlanta -- and work out some of the final details but I don't think there's any deal breakers here," Parcells said.
Parcells said he has no plans to return to coaching.
"Arthur wants to rebuild the football operation. I'll hire a general manager and then we'll hire a coach. We'll do this together, the GM, the coach and myself. The coach absolutely will not be Bill Parcells. All this happens if we finalize this thing, which I expect to do."
Asked about a potential GM and coach, Parcells said, "I've got a list but that's all I'm saying."
Parcells says the current general manager, Rich McKay, is welcome to stay with the team, but realistically, it's hard to imagine McKay staying, considering that Blank is demoting him.
Of course, Parcells has been on the verge of taking other jobs in the past, only to back out at the last minute. So this is not a sure thing. But it's close.
According to multiple media reports, McKay could stay with the team to run the business side -- ticket sales, concessions, parking, that sort of thing. But Blank has apparently already decided that McKay will no longer run the draft and free agency for the Falcons, and McKay will also most likely not choose the Falcons' next head coach.
The news comes on the heels of the report that Bill Parcells is considering a high-ranking job in the Falcons' front office. Blank would love to have Parcells running the football side of things, but even if Parcells turns him down, Blank seems to have decided that McKay -- the man behind such decisions as hiring Bobby Petrino and giving Michael Vick the biggest contract in league history -- is not fit to run the team's football operations.
The Atlanta Falcons are a mess right now, and if there's one person in the National Football League who knows how to clean up messes, it's Bill Parcells.
Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reports that Falcons owner Arthur Blank has been in touch with Parcells about hiring him to take over the team's front office. Although that doesn't necessarily mean general manager Rich McKay (who clearly deserves some of the blame for the state of the franchise) would be fired, there's little doubt that if Parcells were in the Falcons' front office, he wouldn't be there to sit around and watch someone else make the decisions.
Right now Parcells and Blank are apparently not talking about Parcells becoming the Falcons' next head coach, although with Parcells, that could always change.
The biggest obstacle in the way of Parcells joining up with the Falcons in some capacity may be that the Dolphins are also reportedly interested in hiring him. Whether it's the Dolphins, Falcons or some other team, Parcells is likely to be back in the NFL within the next month.
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Falcons general manager Rich McKay says that the team realizes it has a lot of work to do after an ugly 2-6 start, but that that work will not include finding a replacement for head coach Bobby Petrino.
Q: There's a lot of speculation that Bobby Petrino's going to go back to coach in college. Is there any fear that Bobby will leave?
A: No. When we did the research and when we talked to coach Petrino, this was a challenge he wanted. Although I think that he and his staff have been dealt a unique hand and one that I'm not sure anyone else has had to deal with, I think they've done a good job of dealing with it. I'm pretty confident that they'll keep working at that task.
There are two problems here: First, I find it very hard to believe that Petrino wouldn't listen if a top college program gave him a call. Secondly, I find it very hard to believe that McKay can speak with confidence about the future of the Falcons because I find it very easy to believe that owner Arthur Blank will find a new general manager after the season. McKay can't speak with confidence about Petrino's job until he can speak with confidence about his own job.
Last offseason, Falcons owner Arthur Blank stripped Rich McKay of his general manager duties, although he retained the title of team president. Thomas Dimitroff took over as GM, had a lot to do with bringing Matt Ryan to Atlanta, and some eight months later, the Falcons are headed to the postseason. Along with the Dolphins and Lions, it's easily one of the most amazing stories of 2008. 
The Atlanta Falcons 
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I guess this isn't much of a surprise, Arthur Blank is screwing another coaching search.
Former Giants, Patriots, Jets and Cowboys head coach 
Atlanta Falcons owner 
The Atlanta Falcons are a mess right now, and if there's one person in the National Football League who knows how to clean up messes, it's 
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