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.

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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)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is planning to travel to Spain this year, with stops in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands to fulfil Pope Francis’ wish of visiting a key migration entry point to Europe, a Spanish cardinal said Friday.

Cardinal José Cobo Cano, the archbishop of Madrid, announced plans for the trip were underway after meeting with a top official in the Vatican secretary of state to discuss the itinerary. While June had been rumored as the possible date, Cobo said the timing of the trip was still up in the air.

Word of the planned papal trip came a day after the Spanish government announced a landmark agreement, strongly supported by the Vatican, in which Spain's Catholic bishops agreed to let the state ombudsman have the final say in church-funded compensation for victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Spain had long lobbied for Francis to visit, but over 12 years he always declined. Francis preferred to travel to smaller countries, oftentimes far away, where Catholics were a minority.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Cobo said the current proposal calls for Leo to visit the capital, Madrid, and the city of Barcelona, where he would visit the Sagrada Familia basilica. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the basilica architect Antoni Gaudí, who is on the path to possible beatification.

The plan calls for Leo to also visit the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off northwest Africa. The islands experience large numbers of migrant arrivals from West Africa. While Francis had long declined to visit the Spanish mainland, he had had hoped to visit the Canary Islands as part of his longstanding outreach to migrants and refugees.

Leo has echoed Francis' concern Friday, telling the Vatican's diplomatic corps in his annual foreign policy speech that migrants enjoy inalienable rights. He said he hoped that countries' efforts to crack down on human trafficking ""will not become a pretext for undermining the dignity of migrants and refugees."

The Spain trip would mark the first known travel plans for Leo in 2026. The American pope has said he wants to visit Africa this year, especially Algeria, which played an important role in the life of St. Augustine, the inspiration for Leo’s Augustinian religious order. Leo has also said he hopes to return to his beloved Peru, where he lived for two decades as a missionary, and to Argentina and Uruguay, which had unsuccessfully lobbied for a visit by the Argentine pope during his pontificate.

The announced trip came a day after the Spanish government said that the Spanish Catholic hierarchy had agreed to let the state ombudsman have the final say in compensating victims of clergy sexual abuse, a remarkable concession by the church.

Justice Minister Félix Bolaños, who led the talks with the Spanish bishops, credited the Vatican with having pushed for the deal despite the opposition of some Spanish bishops. Spanish abuse survivors had criticized the bishops' original in-house compensation proposal as lacking any oversight.

“I have the feeling that the Holy See has pushed for this, that the Spanish church has signed the agreement, but I also have the feeling that some bishops in Spain are not entirely enthusiastic about this agreement,” he said in an interview with Cadena Ser radio.

The deal is a remarkable concession by the Spanish church to allow the state to intervene in its internal handling of abuse claims. It is evidence of how the Spanish hierarchy has lost credibility over revelations of decades of abuse and cover-up by the hierarchy that were documented in 2023 by the ombudsman's office.

AP writer Joseph Wilson contributed from Barcelona.

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Pope Leo XIV waves faithfuls at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV meets faithfuls at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)