Longtime NFL assistant Dean Pees has announced his retirement.
This is actually Pees’ third retirement, but this time it comes after Pees spent two seasons as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator under head coach Arthur Smith.
Pees had previously worked with Smith on the Titans’ staff from 2018-2019.
“You appreciate all the work and the sacrifice,” Smith said of Pees, via Tori McElhaney of the Falcons’ website. “We all get paid to do this and we’re lucky as hell, but there are sacrifices you have to make. Dean’s a guy who has coached at every level and had success. He has impacted a lot of lives and he has impacted the game.”
Pees, 73, also served as the Ravens defensive coordinator from 2012-2017 and the Patriots defensive coordinator from 2006-2009. Before making his way to the NFL in 2004 as New England’s linebackers coach, Pees served in a variety of roles at the college level, including being the head coach at Kent State from 1998-2003.
The Falcons will now need a new defensive coordinator for their 2023 staff.