FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The Falcons organization announced on Monday that they are making changes to their coaching staff. Included in those moves: Steve Jackson has moved to secondary coach, Nick Perry is the assistant wide receivers coach, Lanier Goethie is the defensive front specialist and Dave Huxatable is a senior defensive assistant.
Jackson joined the Falcons coaching staff in 2022 as a senior offensive assistant. The Houston native played eight seasons in the NFL as a defensive back with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans from 1991-1999. In 2001, Jackson transitioned into coaching, landing his first start with the Buffalo Bills as the assistant defensive backs coach. He later had stints with Washington (2004-2011), Detroit Lions (2013), Tennessee Titans (2016-2017), New York Jets (2018-2019), and Cincinnati Bengals (2020-2021). Throughout his 19 seasons as a coach, Jackson has worked with and developed the likes of Sean Taylor, Jamal Adams, Adoree Jackson, and Kevin Byard.
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Perry joined the Falcons coaching staff in 2021, spending his first two seasons as the team's assistant defensive backs coach. Perry played five seasons as a safety at the University of Alabama from 2010-2015. Following his playing career, he was hired to Nick Saban's coaching staff serving as a graduate assistant and defensive analyst from 2017-2020.
Goethie joined the Falcons coaching staff in 2021, spending his first two seasons as a defensive assistant. Prior to joining Atlanta's staff, Goethie spent 12 years coaching at the collegiate level. Goethie started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Mississippi from 2009-2010, and later had stints with North Greenville University (2011), Delta State University (2012-2015), Louisiana Tech University (2016-2017), and Duke University (2018-2020).
Prior to joining the Falcons, Huxtable coached at the collegiate level for 40 years, most recently serving as an analyst at the University of Alabama. Huxtable has ties with other Falcons coaches, having served on the North Carolina Tar Heels coaching staff when Arthur Smith played offensive lineman there. Falcons defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen and Huxtable also have familiarity after serving on the same coaching staff together at North Carolina State University from 2013-2016.
Matt Baker has been named the special teams assistant. Baker, a former NFL quarterback, and Arthur Smith both played together at North Carolina, a time when Huxtable served as the defensive coordinator there. Prior to joining the Falcons coaching staff, Baker served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at John Carroll University from 2020-2023.
In addition to said changes, Steven King and Patrick Kramer have been named 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 working with the offensive line.
During the 2022 season, King served as the Falcons' diversity coaching intern working with the special teams unit, Kramer as a football analyst, Flaherty as a football analyst and Jeberaeel as the assistant offensive line coach. Gray joins the Falcons coaching staff having most recently served as the co-special teams coordinator/linebackers coach at Gardner-Webb University from 2020-2022. Kambui previously served as the Marlin Briscoe Coaching Fellow for the Denver Broncos from 2021-2022.
