FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – The Falcons have named Zac Robinson the organization's next offensive coordinator, the team announced on Monday night.
Robinson joins new head coach Raheem Morris' staff after the two worked together throughout all of Morris' previous three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams. The 37-year-old former quarterback has been with the Rams organization since joining the league as a coach in 2019 after retiring as a player in 2013. He began that 2019 season as an assistant quarterbacks coach. Since then, Robinson has been promoted to pass game coordinator/quarterbacks coach, a position he has held since 2022.
Robinson was dealt a complicated hand in his first season at the position, as injuries plagued starting quarterback Matthew Stafford. By the 2022 season's end, the Rams had started four different quarterbacks, which included a very quick turn to get Baker Mayfield up to speed within two days of the Rams acquiring him, only for him to lead the Rams on a game-winning drive against the Raiders in Week 14.
According to the Rams team website, prior to a Stafford injury that ultimately kept him off the field for eight of the final nine games of the 2022 season, the veteran quarterback had the highest completion percentage of his career (68%).
With Stafford fully healthy in 2023, the Rams offense went from 3,108 passing yards in 2022 to 4,063 in 2023. Though Los Angeles' ace receiver in Cooper Kupp was sidelined with a lingering hamstring injury throughout 2023, the NFL world saw the emergence of rookie receiver Puka Nacua.
The last year's fifth-round pick broke record after record en route to the Rams' appearance in the NFC Wild Card game this January. Some of those records included breaking the NFL's single-game record for receptions by a rookie and becoming the first player to record more than 10 catches and 100 yards in each of his first two NFL games. Nacua finished the 2023 regular season with 105 receptions and 1,486 receiving yards. That stat line set a new NFL record for rookies in total receptions and total receiving yards.
The Rams pass game ranked in the top-15 in the league in total passing yards, yards per attempt and receiving touchdowns.
When the Rams won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2021 season, Robinson was an assistant wide receivers coach. That was the year the Rams sent Jared Goff, a 2021 third-round pick and two future first-round picks to Detroit for Stafford. The inclusion of Stafford jump-started the Rams offense that year, especially for Kupp. The receiver broke franchise records in 2021 and earned his first Pro Bowl invite and first-team All-Pro honors. Most notably, Kupp became the first player since Steve Smith Sr. to lead the league in receptions, receiving touchdowns and receiving yards. The "receiving triple crown," if you will.
Kupp's statistical jump in 2021 was supplemented by Stafford, who passed for the second-most yards in a single postseason with 1,188. What's more, Stafford became the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in the regular season and postseason combined, while also leading a team to a Super Bowl in the same season.
Robinson had a hand in all of this, which is a plus considering it's offensive success the Falcons are searching for, especially at the quarterback position.
Quarterback has been an area of concern for the Falcons since they traded Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in 2021. In the two seasons since, quarterback play has been inconsistent in Atlanta. So, one of the most important questions – if not the most important question – the Falcons have to answer in 2024 directly involves QB1, whoever that may be.
Prior to the Falcons hiring of Morris as head coach, owner Arthur Blank set the expectation that the Falcons will be top contenders in the quarterback market this offseason.
"It's an opportunity to kind of pick their own partner, if you will, or own spouse," Blank said of a head coach coming. "(Someone) who they can grow with, who they can select, however we acquire them. Wherever we acquire their rights, (through the) draft, free agency or whatever it may be.
"… I think, to the right kind of coach, it's an opportunity (and) this is a big part of what we have to pick going forward. I'd rather pick my own spouse than have someone else pick them for me."
Now as the Falcons offensive coordinator, the responsibility of developing and leading said quarterback while getting offensive production on track with Kyle Pitts, Drake London, Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier falls to Robinson. This will be Robinson's first job as an offensive play caller.
