Dave Ragone enters his second season with the Los Angeles Rams as the quarterbacks coach. He joined the Rams after spending three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons as their offensive coordinator from 2021-23.
Under Ragone's guidance, QB Matthew Stafford finished in the top-15 in passing yards and touchdowns in 2024. He also surpassed 3,000 passing yards in a season for the 12th time in his career and became the 13th different quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. Stafford passed Eli Manning for 10th all-time in career passing yards (59,809) and passing touchdowns (377). Stafford recorded four-consecutive games (Week 10-13) with multiple touchdown passes and no interceptions for the second time in his Rams career (Week 13-16 in 2023) and became the only Rams quarterback to accomplish the feat in franchise history. During the 2024 campaign, the Rams quarterbacks finished with the seventh fewest interceptions, 10th in passing yards per game (227.5), 13th in completed passes (367), and tied for 14th in passing rating (93.7) and passing first downs (192).
Ragone joined the Rams after spending three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons as their offensive coordinator from 2021-23. During the 2023 campaign, the Falcons finished ninth in rushing offense with 2,159 rushing yards and 127 rushing yards per game, tied for eighth with 121 rushing first downs, and ranked fourth in tackles avoided on rushes (106). The offense also ranked seventh in yards per reception (11.5).
Under Ragone's guidance, rookie running back Bijan Robinson ranked in the top 20 in rushing yards (976), yards per rush (4.6), and rushing first downs (50). After a productive first season, Robinson was named to PFWA's All-Rookie Team and was one of six finalists for the 2023 Pepsi Zero Sugar NFL Rookie of the Year. He also set the franchise record for yards from scrimmage by a rookie (1,463). Tight End Kyle Pitts ranked in the top 10 among tight ends in the NFL in receiving first downs (35) and yards per reception (12.6).
In 2022, Atlanta's offense led the NFL in fewest penalties, finished third in rushing yards per game, and 10th in third down conversion rate. The Falcons also had the third-highest successful play rate on rushing attempts (45.1%). The rushing offense averaged 74.5 more rushing yards per game in 2022 than the year prior, which was the largest one-season improvement by any team since 2001. The Falcons became the first team to have four players with at least 250 rushing yards through the first eight games of a season in NFL history with running backs Cordarrelle Patterson (340), Tyler Allgeier (324), Caleb Huntley (265) and quarterback Marcus Mariota (280).
During the 2022 campaign, Ragone mentored two quarterbacks, Mariota and rookie Desmond Ridder, who started the final four games and had 73 completions for 708 passing yards which was the most by a player in his first four career starts in franchise history. He became the third rookie to attempt at least 100 passes and not record an interception in his first four starts in NFL history, joining Dak Prescott and Gardner Minshew. Receiver Drake London also made franchise history with the most receptions by a rookie (72). The Falcons became the fourth team to have a 1,000-yard rookie rusher and an 800-yard rookie receiver in the same season in NFL history with Allgeier (1,035 rushing yards) and London (866 receiving yards).
In Ragone's first season as offensive coordinator in 2021, Atlanta was the only team to have a wide receiver (Russell Gage), tight end (Pitts), and running back (Patterson) each record at least 50 receptions and 500 receiving yards in the NFL that season. The Falcons running backs and tight ends combined for 2,251 yards receiving, which led the NFL that season and set a single-season franchise record.
With a young offense that season, many rookies produced and set franchise records under the leadership of Ragone. Pitts set the single-season rookie receiving record and the single-season receiving record for a tight end. He earned his first-career Pro Bowl nod and became the second rookie tight end to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in NFL history (1,026).
Prior to his time in Atlanta, Ragone spent five seasons with the Chicago Bears from 2016-20. For the first four seasons from 2016-19, he served as the quarterbacks coach and became the pass game coordinator in 2020. That season, Ragone coached Quarterbacks Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles, who helped the team achieve a Wild Card bid.
Under Ragone's mentorship in 2019, Trubisky tallied 3,138 passing yards in over 14 games, recording back-to-back 3,000-yard passing seasons which was only accomplished twice before in franchise history. The Bears offense ranked in the top-15 in the NFL in completions (371). In 2018, Ragone guided Trubisky to a Pro Bowl. He became just the sixth quarterback in franchise history to throw for 3,000 yards in a season. His four games with a passer rating of at least 120.0 were the most in single-season in franchise history and his four games with at least 300 passing yards tied for the most in a single-season in the team's history. In 2017, Trubisky set Bears' rookie records with 2,193 passing yards and 196 completions. In the final five games of the regular season, he completed more than 67 percent of his passes, which was the fifth-best in the NFL during that span. The year prior in 2016, Ragone guided the Bears offense to set franchise marks in gross passing yards (4,139), net passing yards (3,969), and passing first downs (211) despite having three quarterback changes during the season.
Before his stint in Chicago, Ragone spent the 2015 campaign with the Washington Commanders as the offensive quality control coach. Working with Sean McVay, he helped Quarterback Kirk Cousins lead the NFL in completion percentage (69.8) and finish fifth in passer rating (101.6).
Ragone made his NFL coaching debut with the Tennessee Titans as the wide receivers coach from 2011-12 and then served as the quarterbacks coach in 2013. As the wide receivers coach, he guided receiver Nate Washington to a career-high 1,023 receiving yards. He became the Titans first 1,000-yard receiver since 2004.
He began his professional coaching career as a quarterbacks coach with the Hartford Colonials of the UFL in 2010.
Before becoming a coach, Ragone played in the NFL for three seasons as a quarterback for the Houston Texans from 2003-05. He also spent time with the Berlin Thunder in 2005 and received NFL Europe Offensive MVP honors after leading the league in passer rating (97.5) and setting a league record with 174 consecutive passes without an interception.
Ragone played collegiately at Louisville, where he was a three-time Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year and led the Cardinals to three consecutive bowl games.
He is a native of Middleburg Heights, Ohio. Ragone and his wife, Marju, have three children Isabella, Anderson, and Cristiano.
