Colts' Front-Runner for Head Coach Developing?

Meetings between the Indianapolis Colts and head coaching candidate Raheem Morris have reportedly been all positive.

The Indianapolis Colts' search for their next head coach has been a big one, kicking the tires on over a dozen candidates. However, they're on to second interviews with some of their candidates, and one of them has made quite an impression.

During the first round of interviews, Raheem Morris was the only one where word got out about how positively the meeting went. Now conversing with the Colts again, ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler reports that the Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator had "a lengthy in-person interview" with the Colts on Friday and was still with the teams into the early evening.

Raheem Morris is having a lengthy in-person interview with the #Colts today. Was told Morris was still with the team as of early evening. Morris is one of several candidates as part of Indy's second round of talks.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 27, 2023

"Raheem Morris is having a lengthy in-person interview with the #Colts today," Fowler tweeted. "Was told Morris was still with the team as of early evening. Morris is one of several candidates as part of Indy's second round of talks."

Morris (46) is arguably the most-complete candidate that the Colts have interviewed.

Since 2002, he has spent time coaching with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Rams. He was the head coach for Tampa (2009-11) and the interim head coach for Atlanta (2020), compiling a record of 21-38.

In his NFL coaching career, Morris has even spent time as assistant head coach/passing game coordinator in Atlanta from 2015-19, spending the last four years of that tenure as the wide receivers coach as well before taking over as the defensive coordinator in 2020.

Morris is a two-time Super Bowl champion as an assistant coach, winning as recently as the 2021-22 season with the Rams.

He's been described as a coach who relates and communicates with players as well as any of his colleagues in the league, and he's reportedly grown leaps and bounds since his first stint as a head coach at just 32 years old.

In recent years, Morris has spent time in the Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay coaching trees, so he's got abundant resources to form a coaching staff.

Joining Morris as finalists for the Colts' head coaching gig so far are Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday, Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, and New York Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. They were interested in interviewing Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn again, but he withdrew his name to return to the Cowboys.

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