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NFC Coaching Updates: Falcons, Vikings, Garcia, Glenn

February 25th, 2024 at 6:21pm CST by Ely Allen

As the offseason chugs along, teams continue to reconstruct their coaching staffs. The Falcons made a number of moves just before the weekend, according to Michael Rothstein of ESPN. The staff continues to take shape under new head coach Raheem Morris.

On offense, two announcements were made on assistants looking to hold over from Arthur Smith‘s staff last year. Rothstein reports that assistant offensive line coach Shawn Flaherty and offensive assistant Patrick Kramer, who each came to Atlanta last offseason, will be retained in their previous positions.

A new hire was announced, as well, with the team naming Jacquies Smith as their new outside linebackers coach. Formerly a seven-year NFL defensive end, the former undrafted player out of Missouri will now accept his first NFL coaching position. After disappearing from the NFL-world for a spell and making an appearance in the XFL, Smith worked with draft-eligible players in pre-draft training. He most recently spent the 2023 season as an assistant edge coach for the Texas Longhorns.

In the front office, the team announced the hires of John Griffin as director of player performance and Rob Dadona as manager of coaching operations. Griffin follows Morris after spending the past three years with the Rams. Dadona replaces Brian Griffin, who departed to serve as Chief of Staff at the University of Maryland. Dadona spent the past five seasons with the Jets, serving as assistant to the head coach for the last three.

Here are a few other staff updates from around the NFC, starting with a couple out of Minneapolis:

  • The Vikings announced two staff additions this weekend, naming assistant offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett and assistant to the head coach Henry Schneider IV. Sarrett replaces Justin Rascati, who departed for Los Angeles to serve as the Chargers pass-game coordinator. The two essentially swapped places, as Sarrett spent the past three years in the assistant offensive line coaching role with the Chargers. Schneider spent the last five years with the Raiders, most recently as the manager of coaching operations.
  • The Cowboys added a hot, young name out of Washington to their defensive staff this weekend. Cristian Garcia, who spent part of last year as the Commanders interim defensive backs coach, will head to Dallas as a defensive quality control coach, per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. Garcia was a name that former Commanders head coach Ron Rivera turned to for leadership after firing defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. Now he’ll join the NFC East rival.
  • Washington added their own coaching assistant last week. According to ESPN’s John Keim, John Glenn will join the staff as the Commanders’ new assistant special teams coach. Glenn replaces Ben Jacobs, who had served in the same role since following Rivera from Carolina in 2020 but was not retained by the new staff. Glenn changes roles a bit after spending the past six seasons as the Seahawks linebackers coach.

NFC Coaching Updates: Bears, Falcons, Engram

March 4th, 2023 at 9:26am CST by Ely Allen

The offseason giveth and the offseason taketh away as the Bears learned this past week with the addition and subtraction of two coaching assistants earlier in the week.

After the departure of assistant offensive line coach Austin King to join Sean Payton‘s new staff in Denver under the same title, Chicago hired longtime Titans assistant Luke Steckel to fill the role. This will be Steckel’s first time working specifically with offensive linemen in the NFL. After four years in Cleveland as an assistant to the head coach, Steckel joined the Titans in 2013 as an offensive assistant/special assistant to the head coach. He cycled through other roles with the team over the years including assistant wide receivers coach and his most recent role of the past two seasons as tight ends coach.

Steckel is credited with having contributed to the success of wide receiver A.J. Brown during his rookie season in Tennessee and quarterback Ryan Tannehill in the year that he won Comeback Player of the Year. As a tight ends coach, Steckel worked with newcomer Austin Hooper and rookie Chigoziem Okonkwo. Both finished with similar statistics, combining for 894 yards and five touchdowns. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Hooper had the 12th-best receiving grade of any tight end in the NFL while Okonkwo finished third behind only Travis Kelce and George Kittle. Steckel will now be assisting with coaching an offensive line that utilizes strong youth pieces like Teven Jenkins and Braxton Jones.

Here are a few more coaching updates from around the NFC:

  • The Falcons have made some updates to their staff from last year, according to Falcons features reporter Ashton Edmunds. Steve Jackson, who shockingly was hired in the position of senior offensive assistant last year despite his years of defensive coaching experience, has rightfully returned to the defensive side of the ball as the team’s secondary coach. Another assistant expected to switch sides of the ball, Nick Perry will move from assistant defensive backs coach to assistant wide receivers coach. Former defensive assistant Lanier Goethie has been promoted to defensive front specialist. The team has also added longtime college coaching assistant Dave Huxatable into his first NFL role of senior defensive assistant. Additionally, former John Carroll offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Baker has been added to the staff as special teams assistant. Lastly, the team has hired Steven King and Patrick Kramer as offensive assistants, Mario Jeberaeel as the special projects: defense coach, Shawn Flaherty as the assistant offensive line coach, Michael Gray as a football analyst, and Mateo Kambui as the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellow assigned to work with the offensive line.
  • With Drew Terrell‘s departure to Arizona as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, the Commanders have a vacancy to fill at wide receivers coach. According to Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, one candidate who has been interviewed for the role is former NFL wide receiver Bobby Engram. After his retirement as a player, the longtime Seahawk immediately went into coaching, signing with the rival 49ers as an offensive assistant. Since then, Engram has worked his way up, going from coaching wide receivers in the college ranks at Pitt to earning the same position in Baltimore. With the Ravens, Engram earned his paycheck putting together veteran receiver groups for quarterback Joe Flacco. In healthy years, Engram coached up impressive duos such as Steve Smith–Torrey Smith and Mike Wallace-Steve Smith. When injuries decimated the team he helped Kamar Aiken to a breakout season, pieced together what he could out of a group that included Wallace, Jeremy Maclin, and Chris Moore, and got a respectable output from a corps of John Brown, Willie Snead, and Michael Crabtree. Engram moved to tight ends coach for the Ravens in 2019 and helped in the emergence of star tight end Mark Andrews, who earned two Pro Bowl bids and a first-team All-Pro selection under Engram. Last year, Engram took the role of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Wisconsin, but an interview with the Commanders could indicate his willingness to return to the NFL.