The Falcoholic
The former Falcons quarterback turned quarterbacks coach is moving up in Zac Robinson’s offense.
T.J. Yates has enjoyed a fairly rapid rise in the Atlanta Falcons organization. The onetime backup to Matt Ryan joined the staff as a passing game specialist in 2021 with Arthur Smith and became the wide receivers coach in 2022, earning a move to quarterbacks coach this past season under Raheem Morris and Zac Robinson. Surviving a staff change is a fairly big deal, but getting promoted just one year into your stint with that coaching staff is pretty impressive.
And that’s what’s happening, per CBS Sports reporter Jonathan Jones. Yates will now be the team’s passing game coordinator, a position that was not on staff a year ago, and will presumably take on a larger role in gameday planning for Michael Penix and company alongside Robinson. The hope is that in his first full year starting, Penix will preside over a well-coached, well-planned, and talented passing attack, and the Falcons clearly think getting Yates in this role will help with that.
Yates, a former fifth round pick who began his career with the Texans, spent seven seasons in the NFL (mostly as a backup) before moving into the coaching ranks. The Texans hired him in 2019 as an offensive assistant and promoted him to assistant quarterbacks coach in 2020 before he was hired away by the Falcons in 2021. If Atlanta’s passing attack thrives over the next couple of seasons, recent history in the NFL suggests that both Zac Robinson and Yates could be hot coaching candidates.
In a corresponding move, the in-house candidate for quarterbacks coach has been promoted, per Marc Raimondi.
That would be D.J. Williams, an offensive assistant who is also listed as the assistant quarterbacks coach, and is a former Saints offensive assistant and Grambling State quarterback. He’s a well-regarded coach, and the team clearly liked his work with Penix enough to trust him with the all-important development of the team’s franchise quarterback.
Congratulations to both men for their promotions, and we’ll hope they’re part of a very successful Falcons offense in 2025.
