Former Florida QB joins Dallas Cowboys coaching staff

Former Florida quarterback Will Grier has called it a career after seven years in the NFL. He’ll join the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff as an offensive assistant, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer.

Grier came to prominence with West Virginia University, but he originally signed as a four-star recruit with the Gators. He competed with Treon Harris for the backup role to Jeff Driskel in 2014 and ended up redshirting. In 2015, he competed again with Harris, this time for the starting job, but didn’t get the gig.

Despite Harris starting the season’s first game, Grier got playing time, completing 16 of 18 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. He took over the starting role in the second game and held onto the role until midway through the season. Over six games, Grier had 1,205 passing yards and 10 touchdowns on 106 completions. He also ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns.

Two days after his start against Missouri, Grier was suspended for one year following a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug. Grier claimed ignorance of the drug Ligandrol being a banned substance and appealed the suspension. The NCAA denied his appeal and he sat out until the sixth game of the 2016 season.

Over the offseason, Grier transferred to West Virginia. He sat out the 2016 season and entered 2017 as the presumed starter for the Mountaineers and played 22 games over the next two seasons. He finished fourth in the Heisman voting in 2018, ending his college career with 8,558 passing yards, 81 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.

The Carolina Panthers selected Grier in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft, making his first career start in Week 16 of the same season. He exited the Week 17 game with an injury and never made it into another regular-season game. He remained the third-string quarterback for most of his time in Carolina and was released in August 2021.

Dallas claimed Grier off waivers to serve as the third-string quarterback. He was waived the following August and signed to the practice squad before being elevated a month later. The Cowboys released Grier ahead of the 2023 season but gave him the chance to start a preseason game, in which he threw for 305 yards and two touchdowns — adding two more touchdowns on the ground.

He bounced from Cincinnati to New England before landing with Los Angeles as an emergency backup following an injury to starter Justin Herbert. The Philadelphia Eagles signed him to a one-year contract in 2024, but he was released in August and resigned to the practice squad. Grier was released again in November and ended the season back on the Cowboys.

Dallas released and re-signed Grier to a practice squad contract in 2025. He signed a reserve/futures deal with Dallas in March of this year, but was released a month later. Grier’s final stop before retirement was with the Carolina Panthers, who signed him as a free agent in April. He announced his retirement from football in July.

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Former Florida QB joins Dallas Cowboys coaching staff