Falcons officially hire Dave Ragone, Dean Pees and Marquice Williams as coordinators

The first name we heard related to the Falcons’ offensive coordinator opening under Arthur Smith was Bears passing coordinator Dave Ragone. The first name we heard related to the defensive coordinator opening was longtime Patriots, Ravens and Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees. Now it looks like those names were tied to the jobs for good reason, as they were hired alongside new Special Teams Coordinator Marquice Williams.

The team has formalized the hiring of Ragone, Pees and Williams this evening. They also announced that wide receivers coach Dave Brock will remain in his role.

Williams was the only name that was not reported until today. The Lions assistant special teams coach has been involved in a unit that was pretty good and hopefully he can help out in a second leg that has been quite chronically disappointing in recent years. The fact that Younghoe Koo and Sterling Hofrichter have settled into their respective positions, along with excellent long snapper Josh Harris, should give him a good start in determining who he wants to contribute to the Falcons special teams.

Ragone is a former NFL Europe MVP and had a brief stint as a quarterback in the NFL before moving on to practice. He spent the last season as the Bears’ game coordinator – a thankless job if there ever was one – and was Chicago quarterbacks coach from 2016 to 2019, surviving John Fox’s transition to Matt Nagy in this role. Ragone straddled Arthur Smith in Tennessee when he coached wide receivers, then quarterbacks for the Titans and Smith coached tight ends, which means Smith saw his training firsthand. While Smith intends to announce games in Atlanta, Ragone will likely have a say in the planning and planning of the offense, and will have Chicago half-backs coach Charles London as as quarterback coach.

It’s a bit of a risky hire on paper – Ragone didn’t exactly preside over a big Chicago passing attack and didn’t turn Mitch Trubisky into a special quarterback during his time with him – but Smith leaves with someone he knows and respects. Hope it works.

Pees is a more historical name. He’s coached 7 of the 10 best defenses in terms of yardage and 8 in terms of scoring with three separate teams, and while his Ravens teams have become a bit too notorious for having blown late for our comfort, he is experienced and very successful wherever he has been. There will likely be a younger coach hired to serve as an assistant or defensive co-coordinator, according to rumors we’ve heard so far, but Pees is said to be a veteran coach who could handle the side of the ball Smith isn’t. Not all Pees is known to mix things up in his defensive rosters, but it is very possible with him on board that the Falcons will jump to more than 3-4 looks up front in 2021, which could have some interesting implications for any. defense.

Finally, Brock left the head coach position at Delaware in 2017 and served as both wide receivers and running backs coach in Atlanta, although he will remain among the wide receivers on Smith’s staff. . Brock is credited with doing a good job with the talented group of receivers on this team, including promoting Russell Gage’s development and role in the offense, and Gage has rewarded that faith with significant growth. Keeping Brock is a good decision.

There are more assistant announcements to come, but Arthur Smith’s coaching staff is rallying. What do you think of the hires?