Due to the Washington Football Team being shorthanded against the Eagles due to COVID-19, Jennifer King has been appointed to be the gameday running backs coach.
Along with assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust in Tampa Bay, King is one of two full-time female assistant coaches in the NFL.
“I fell in love with football at a super young age — like four or five years old, started watching football with my dad and just going to high school games on Friday night,” King said earlier this week on “On Her Turf,” an NBC program highlighting women in sports. “I just fell in love with it. I was fortunate enough to start playing tackle football around 22, and played for many years as a quarterback.”
“When I started getting into football more and more, I knew I wanted to coach,” she said. “Ultimately, through a lot of hard work and a few other spots I ended up in the NFL.”
She said that being the first full-time black female assistant coach is “super special” to her.
“Being the first black female full-time NFL coach is super special to me, and it’s very important for me to do a good job and just to be a good role model and a symbol of representation,” King said. “I think it’s important to have diversity in football as it’s important to have diversity everywhere. There’s so many different points of view and backgrounds, and people bring different ideas to the table that are important. It was interesting to see so many playoff teams last season had women involved on their staff.”
Tonight @JenniferKing5 becomes the first African American female position coach in @NFL history! pic.twitter.com/VEHMO4R74y
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) December 21, 2021
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