Falcons to interview former longtime QB and NFL MVP Matt Ryan for new president of football position

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Thursday that former quarterback Matt Ryan will be one of the candidates interviewed for the franchise's newly created position of president of football.

Blank said the interviews would begin Thursday. The president of football will be involved in selecting a new coach and general manager. The Falcons fired coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot on Sunday, hours after the completion of an 8-9 season.

Ryan, the most accomplished quarterback in Falcons history as the starter from 2008-21, currently is an NFL analyst for CBS. The 2016 NFL MVP, he holds most of the team's major passing records, including yards, touchdown passes and completions.

Blank said it was not an impediment that Ryan, 40, has no front-office experience.

“My response to that would be Matt Ryan came into the league as a rookie in 2008, ended up leading a locker room for 14 years, leading in a huddle, being a great player, leading the players, supporting coaches,” Blank said. “So his EQ and IQ when it comes to football is extraordinarily high.”

The Falcons announced Thursday night that Detroit Lions chief operating officer Mike Disner and Carolina Panthers executive vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis became the first candidates to interview for the president of football position.

Disner has worked with the Lions since 2019 and has been in his current role since 2022. Disner previously spent seven seasons with the Arizona Cardinals as director of football administration following four years at the NFL Management Council.

Tilis spent 14 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, from 2010-23, before holding his current role with Carolina the past two seasons.

Blank said he intentionally avoided giving the new position the title of president of football operations.

“It’s not football operations, it is football, because sometimes people can interpret that as being, well, they’re responsible for the operations stuff, the backroom stuff, administrative stuff, but this person we’re trying to hire will be responsible for everything that relates to football,” Blank said.

Blank has made filling the new position a priority. The coach and general manager will report to the president.

Blank said his interest in Ryan is based on his “long relationship” with the former quarterback.

“He’s an outstanding individual, great community leader, and the kind of person you’d certainly want to consider in that position,” Blank said. “But we have other candidates that we’re interviewing as well over the next couple of days, starting this afternoon, this evening.”

Blank, 83, has owned the Falcons since 2002 and acknowledged in a letter to fans released on Monday he is disappointed in the team's streak of eight consecutive losing seasons. He said Thursday that's why he chose to fire Morris and Fontenot, and announce other front-office changes, despite the team closing the season with four straight wins.

“It was my conclusion as the season went on that we could not achieve or were not achieving at the level that I thought this roster was capable of performing at,” Blank said. “I think we're capable of getting to another level. ... In my judgment I felt that two years of (Morris) being (the coach) of this team and Terry after five years, I felt I’ve seen enough to know that we could do better than this, in my heart."

The Falcons haven’t enjoyed a winning season or appeared in the playoffs since 2017. Morris went 16-18 in his two seasons.

Blank said John Harbaugh, who was fired on Tuesday following 18 seasons as coach of the Baltimore Ravens, would be a candidate to replace Morris if he was interested in the job.

“John has been one of the most successful coaches in the last 20 years and already has won at every level,” Blank said. “And so he would certainly be a candidate we would want to spend some time with. Whether or not he would have an interest in Atlanta, I don’t know.”

The president of football will replace Greg Beadles, who was hired as president and chief executive officer and will oversee business operations. In his new role, Beadles replaces Rich McKay, who will continue as CEO of AMB Sports and Entertainment with responsibilities including the role of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in this year’s World Cup and plans for Atlanta’s 2028 Super Bowl.

Blank hired the consulting firm Sportsology to study the Falcons. An executive search firm, ZRG Partners, will assist on the coach search and Sportsology will be involved in the search for a new general manager.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Atlanta Falcons Owner Arthur Blank speaks during a news conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Atlanta Falcons Owner Arthur Blank speaks during a news conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Atlanta Falcons Owner Arthur Blank speaks during a news conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

FILE - Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, left, talks to former quarterback Matt Ryan before an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Oct. 3, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

Atlanta Falcons Owner Arthur Blank speaks during a news conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo.

The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and a Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week. Their Orion capsule bolted out of orbit around Earth right on cue and chased after the moon to nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away.

It was the first such engine firing for a space crew since Apollo 17 set out on that era’s final moonshot on Dec. 7, 1972. NASA said that preliminary reports indicate it went well.

“Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of, and it’s your hopes for the future that carry us now on this journey around the moon,” said Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

He said they were glued to the windows to take in the view, calling it “phenomenal."

NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.

Now committed to the moon, the Artemis II test flight is the opening act for NASA’s grand plans for a moon base and sustained lunar living.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Hansen will dash past the moon then hang a U-turn and zip straight home without stopping on land. In the process, they will become the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, breaking the Apollo 13 distance record set in 1970. They also may become the fastest during their reentry at flight’s end on April 10.

Glover, Koch and Hansen already have made history as the first Black, the first woman and the first non-U.S. citizen to launch to the moon. Apollo’s 24 lunar travelers were all white men.

To set the mood for the day’s main event, Mission Control woke up the crew with John Legend’s “Green Light” featuring Andre 3000 and a medley of NASA teams cheering them.

“We are ready to go,” Glover said.

Mission Control gave the final go-ahead minutes before the critical engine firing, telling the astronauts that they were embarking on “humanity’s lunar homecoming arc” to bring them back to Earth.

The engine accelerated them to 24,000 mph (38,000 kph) to shove them out of Earth's orbit.

Koch replied: “With this burn to the moon, we do not leave Earth. We choose it.”

The next major milestone will be Monday’s lunar flyby.

Orion will zoom 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) beyond the moon before turning back, providing unprecedented and illuminated views of the lunar far side, at least for human eyes. The cosmos will even treat the Artemis II astronauts to a total solar eclipse as the moon temporarily blocks the sun from their perspective.

While awaiting their orbital departure earlier Thursday, the astronauts savored the views of Earth from tens of thousands of miles high. Koch told Mission Control that they can make out the entire coastlines of continents and even the South Pole, her old stomping ground.

“It is just absolutely phenomenal,” radioed Koch, who spent a year at an Antarctic research station before joining NASA.

NASA is counting on the test flight to kickstart the entire Artemis program and lead to a moon landing by two astronauts in 2028. Orion’s toilet may need some design tweaks before that happens.

The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned as soon as the Artemis crew reached orbit Wednesday evening. Mission Control guided astronaut Koch through some plumbing tricks and she finally got it going, but not before having to resort to using contingency urine storage bags.

Controllers also managed to bump up the cabin temperature. It was so cold earlier in the flight that the astronauts had to dig into their suitcases for long-sleeved clothes.

The contingency urine bags came in handy later in the day. Mission Control ordered the crew to fill a bunch of the empty bags with water from the capsule’s dispenser. A valve issue arose with the dispenser following liftoff, and NASA wanted plenty of drinking water on hand for the crew in case the problem worsened. The astronauts used straws and syringes to fill the pouches with more than 2 gallons (7 liters) worth before pivoting to the moon.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

In this photo provided by NASA, a view of the Earth from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it orbits above the planet during the Artemis II test flight, on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this photo provided by NASA, an Artemis program patch floating in the International Space Station's cupola, on March 30, 2026. (Jessica Meir/NASA via AP)

Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)