Saints now know who will be coaching division rivals, and they're familiar faces
Every head coaching vacancy in the NFC South is now filled, and the New Orleans Saints now know who they will be facing, and Saints fans should recognize them.
Well, it's officially official, the two head coaching vacancies in the NFC South are now filled, and the New Orleans Saints now know just who will be manning the sidelines when they take on the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons. The funny thing is, the new hires are coaches that the Saints, and their fans, will be all too familiar with.
While the Saints still have a vacant offensive coordinator seat at the coaches' table yet to fill with the ousting of Pete Carmichael, and it's a seat that the Saints should absolutely take their time in filling, the Panthers and Falcons have both landed their new head coaches, a mere hours apart from each other.
Panthers expected to hire Bucs OC Dave Canales as new head coach. (via @RapSheet) pic.twitter.com/ADnQsGckPC
— NFL (@NFL) January 25, 2024
Falcons expected to hire Raheem Morris as their next head coach. (via @TomPelissero) pic.twitter.com/JAURZL4F6T
— NFL (@NFL) January 25, 2024
As we know, the strapping young lad who is now the head honcho of the Panthers is Dave Canales, who spent this season running the offense of the Buccaneers as its coordinator. While they were dead last in rushing, the Bucs did win the division while revitalizing the career of Baker Mayfield, so for that we can see why the Panthers made the move.
Meanwhile, the Falcons went for a coach on the other side of the ball in Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. It is a bit surprising, considering the Falcons offense has talent, it's just former head coach Arthur Smith didn't do the best job at utilitzing it. Had they gotten the right offensive mind in there, it could be the key to unlock the unit, but oh well.
Saints fans will remember that Morris served as the head coach of the Bucs from 2009-2011, and had a record of 17-31 in that span, with ten of those wins coming in the 2010 season.
So there you have it, the head coaching positions of the New Orleans Saints division rivals are all filled, and the results are certainly interesting. There are a lot more staff positions to fill, the Big Easy included, and it'll be interesting to see how this unpredictable division plays out in 2024 and beyond.