The Washington Football Team is promoting Jennifer King to a full-time offensive assistant, a source confirmed to ESPN, making her the first black woman to be a full-time coach in the NFL.
King spent the past season as a full-time intern, working with running backs coach Randy Jordan. Washington’s running backs got a strong production from third-down back JD McKissic, who caught a career-best 80 passes for 589 yards and rushed 85 times for 365. Also, rookie Antonio Gibson rushed to 795 yards and 11 touchdowns when he switched from playing mainly receiver in college.
King also worked as an intern under coach Ron Rivera for two years while in Carolina, in 2018 and ’19. She was also an assistant receiver coach for the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football.
King was an offensive assistant at Dartmouth College in 2019 before joining Washington for the last off-season. She participated regularly in the NFL coaching clinics from 2015 to ’18 and attended the NFL Women’s Career in Football Forum in 2018. From 2006 to ’19 she also played for three professional women’s soccer teams: the Carolina Phoenix, with whom she spent 11 years, the New York Sharks and the DC Divas.
She was also the head coach of the Johnson & Wales University Charlotte women’s basketball team from 2016 to ’18 and led it to a USCAA Division II national championship. From 2006 to ’16 she was an assistant on the women’s basketball team at Greensboro College.
She played softball and basketball for Guilford College.
The news of King’s promotion was first reported by NFL Network.