Another day, another New Orleans Saints offensive coach headed out of town, and the latest to join an NFC South rival.
The latest departure is offensive assistant DJ Williams, who will be headed to the Atlanta Falcons to take over as QB coach on Raheem Morris' new staff, according to a report from Rod Walker of NOLA.com.
Williams, the son of Louisiana native and former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Doug Williams, has been with the Saints since 2017 and worked closely with QB Derek Carr during his first season in New Orleans. Williams also served as the QBs coach in the 2022 Senior Bowl. His departure continues a trend of this offseason as the 8th coach to be shown the door or depart for another opportunity.
Shortly after Week 18 the Saints fired longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, WRs coach Kodi Burns and assistant Bob Bicknell. RBs coach Joel Thomas also departed for the same job with the Giants. The Saints could've blocked that move but chose not to. In the past two weeks the Saints have also moved on from OL coach Doug Marrone, assistant OL coach Kevin Carberry and QBs coach Ronald Curry.
Along with Williams, several others already know their landing spots. Curry will be taking over as Josh Allen's QB coach with the Bills, Pete Carmichael will be rejoining Sean Payton with the Broncos and Carberry will serve as the Bucs' OL coach on Todd Bowles' staff. Carberry and Williams also represent two more coaches being poached within the division, which was the case for former Saints DC and DL coach Ryan Nielsen, who led Atlanta's defense this past season. After former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith's departure, Nielsen signed on as the DC with the Jaguars, where he'll be joined by another former Saints defensive coach in Kris Richard.
The culling marks the 15 coaching change for the Saints in the past two years under Dennis Allen, which has included turnover at seven position coach slots and both coordinator positions. This year's rebuild is largely a product of the Saints' first OC change in more than a decade, with the team expected to hire 49ers pass game specialist Klint Kubiak into that role. That hire can't become official until after the Super Bowl, at which point Kubiak will likely have a strong hand in shaping the team's new attack on offense.
