Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver coach Ike Hilliard is back on an NFL coaching staff as the Atlanta Falcons have hired him as their wide receivers coach, NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo reports.
Hilliard reportedly interviewed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their wide receiver coach position earlier this week after serving as Pittsburgh’s wide receivers coach from 2020-21. He was a rare one-and-done coach with the Steelers, being replaced by current Pittsburgh wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson. Hilliard then served as the receivers coach at Auburn in 2022 and got a promotion to interim co-offensive coordinator after the team let go head coach Bryan Harsin.
A former receiver in the NFL, Hilliard was the seventh overall pick by the New York Giants in the 1997 NFL Draft. He played 12 years in the league, eight with the Giants and four with the Buccaneers, racking up 546 receptions for 6,397 yards and 35 touchdowns in his career.
He’ll now reunite with Atlanta head coach Raheem Morris, who was an assistant in Tampa Bay while Hilliard played there. They also coached together in Washington, Garafolo notes.
Hilliard will now work in a receiver room headlined by former first-round pick Drake London, who is coming off a season with 69 receptions for 905 yards and two touchdowns. He’ll also work with Zac Robinson, whom the Steelers wanted to interview for their offensive coordinator position before he was hired by the Falcons.
Morris is a close friend and former colleague of former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, who was also on the Tampa Bay coaching staff when Hilliard was with the team in 2005. In addition to his stint as Pittsburgh’s receivers coach, Hilliard has also served two stints as wide receivers coach in Washington and also worked as the Buffalo Bills’ wide receivers coach in 2013. He’ll join Atlanta’s new staff as the Falcons look to get London over 1,000 yards for the first time in his career with the former eighth overall pick entering his third season in the league.
