Falcons Promote 2, Add 4 Coaches To Arthur Smith's Staff
The Atlanta Falcons and head coach Arthur Smith made a couple changes to the coaching staff this week.
Jason Getz/USA Today Sports
Atlanta Falcons Communications
The team promoted two of its coaches from the previous year, passing game specialist T.J. Yates and diversity coaching intern Mario Jeberaeel.
The Falcons have named Yates as the team’s receivers coach and Jeberaeel an assistant offensive line coach.
Despite being the receivers coach, Yates played seven years in the NFL as a quarterback, including the 2014 season with the Falcons as the recently-traded Matt Ryan's backup. His best success came with the Houston Texans in his rookie year in 2011, where he led the team to its first playoff win in franchise history.
The Falcons have also hired Steve Jackson as a senior offensive assistant, Shawn Flaherty as a football analyst, Steven King as the diversity coaching intern and Nick Edwards as an offensive assistant from outside the organization.
Jackson last coached the Cincinnati Bengals secondary for the past two seasons appearing in Super Bowl LVI, while Flaherty assisted the Miami Dolphins on staff for the past three seasons.
The other two additions to the staff previously coached in college. King was the special teams quality control coach at the University of North Carolina and Edwards was the offensive coordinator at Cal Poly University.
Atlanta Falcons Communications
Edwards is a former NFL player, who joined the Minnesota Vikings in 2013. Edwards was part of the same rookie class at the same position alongside current Falcons running back/wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who recently signed a brand new two-year deal with the team.
