The Atlanta Falcons are off to a disappointing start in the 2025 NFL season, possessing a 1-2 record that has them two games back of the undefeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the division lead.
Though it’s early in the campaign, they may have already hit their low point in Week 3, as they lost 0-30 against the previously winless Carolina Panthers. It was the first shutout in the NFL this year.
The Falcons are now averaging just 14 points per game, a condemning mark in Michael Penix Jr.’s first season as the unquestioned starter at quarterback. Given that the team hasn’t posted a winning campaign since 2017 — and head coach Raheem Morris needs to show some improvement after a difficult first year as head coach in 2024 — it should be no surprise that the Falcons are already making changes to their coaching staff.
Atlanta Falcons Fire Wide Receivers Coach Ike Hilliard After Week 3 Shutout
Through three games, Penix is averaging slightly more than 200 yards per game, which isn’t anything to scoff at.
The issue? Running back Bijan Robinson is the team’s leader in receiving yards with 164, and tight end Kyle Pitts ranks third with 135. Drake London is the only wideout on the team with more than 100 receiving yards (he has 159), and no receivers have caught a touchdown pass for Atlanta yet this year.
As such, the team announced its firing of wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard after the loss to the Carolina Panthers.
We have released from staff wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard
Current passing game coordinator T.J. Yates will assume those duties pic.twitter.com/YcBp3XLIXv
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) September 22, 2025
Hilliard joined the Falcons in his role when Morris was hired as head coach in 2024. He previously worked with the Miami Dolphins, Washington Commanders (twice), Buffalo Bills, and Pittsburgh Steelers in the same capacity.
In his stead, former NFL quarterback T.J. Yates will take over wide receiver coaching duties. Yates, a fifth-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, played seven seasons in pro football, including the 2014 campaign in Atlanta as Matt Ryan’s backup.
Since retiring from playing in 2017, Yates has coached with the Houston Texans and Falcons. He was an offensive assistant and assistant quarterbacks coach in Houston, and he’s held many titles in Atlanta, including a previous stint as wide receivers coach from 2022-23. He is currently the team’s passing game coordinator and will hold both roles for the remainder of the 2025 season.
His primary job will be to work with Penix, a second-year quarterback out of Washington. London is one of the better physical receivers in the league, while Darnell Mooney has a 1,000-yard season on his résumé. There’s no excuse as to why those two wideouts have combined for just 223 yards over the team’s first three games.
Things aren’t going to get any easier for the Falcons in the coming weeks. Their next three contests are against the Washington Commanders, Buffalo Bills, and San Francisco 49ers, who are a combined 8-1 so far this season.
