MICHAEL PENIX JR. knew early on. It was last spring during voluntary organized team activities. The rookie quarterback had just gotten his locker assignment at the Atlanta Falcons facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia.
Directly to Penix’s right was veteran safety Jessie Bates III, an All-Pro who takes notes on two different iPads during film study.
Penix was the Falcons’ backup quarterback in 2024 and typically, in practice, would go up against the first-team defense, led by Bates. In one 11-on-11 period last spring, Penix saw Bates break on one of his passes even before the wide receiver.
After practice, while both were changing at their lockers, Penix leaned in and asked Bates what he saw on the play.
“He’s like, ‘I just saw the receiver looking that way, or a certain technique or the way that we were running the routes,’ and just small stuff like that,” Penix said. “Because when he’s back there lurking, he’s able to do whatever he wants. It is scary for a quarterback.”
It was a valuable learning experience for Penix, a welcome-to-the-league moment before he ever took a regular-season snap. Penix continued to pick Bates’ brain throughout the season, and Bates was more than willing to take the promising QB under his wing.
Later, Penix realized that his budding mentor-protégé relationship with Bates was, in part, orchestrated by the coaching staff.
“I feel like [there] might’ve been some thought into putting me next to him as far as whoever makes the locker room assignments,” Penix said. “So, definitely take advantage of that. Always asking him why he felt like he should have drove on a certain ball.”
There are very few things done by NFL coaching staffs without some form of intention. Locker room geography is something organizations consider, especially when it comes to where to place promising young players.
Penix wasn’t the only rookie quarterback adjacent to a brainy veteran safety last year — J.J. McCarthy was next to Harrison Smith in the Minnesota Vikings locker room. Philadelphia Eagles six-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay requested his locker be next to then-rookie corner Quinyon Mitchell last season. In New England, No. 4 pick Will Campbell, an offensive tackle, is currently being mentored by Patriots locker neighbor Morgan Moses, an 11-year veteran at the same position. The Dallas Cowboys have strategically placed team leaders in the corners of the locker room going back to the Jason Garrett era.
“It happens a lot,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said of intentional locker assignments. “Some of it’s public, some of it’s not.”
Morris, who has coached in the league on both sides of the ball since 2002, said part of finding the right fit is playing amateur psychologist, which he’s not fully comfortable doing. However, Morris did pair up rookie edge rusher James Pearce Jr. and veteran cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. in the Falcons locker room this season. Morris was on the Atlanta staff in 2020 when Terrell was a rookie. Pearce has a quiet demeanor off the field like Terrell did then, Morris said, so the coach has paired them up in the locker room, as well.
“I hate to do that, because I’m not qualified,” Morris said of playing psychologist. “But I’m definitely good enough to pair people up.”
PUKA NACUA’S LOCKER was placed next to that of Los Angeles Rams right tackle Rob Havenstein during Nacua’s record-breaking rookie season in 2023. Havenstein was one of the oldest, most-tenured players on the team and Nacua showed deference to the 6-foot-8 veteran.
“I was next to ‘Big Rob,’ and it wasn’t my duty to bring ‘Big Rob’ towels, but I always did,” Nacua said.
Rams All-Rookie defensive end Braden Fiske ended up near Havenstein the next year in the Rams’ new facility. He found himself rubbing elbows with Super Bowl winners Havenstein, quarterback Matthew Stafford, wide receiver Cooper Kupp and tight end Tyler Higbee.
“Cooper was a big one last year that I would talk to,” Fiske said. “How did he make that jump in Year 2 of his career? What was something that elevated his game? And a lot of that was the diet. That’s a lot of what I implemented into my offseason. I was super fortunate to have those guys in my area of the locker room.”
That area, in fact, has become prime real estate. It even has a nickname. Rams players have dubbed it “The suburbs.”
“We have got a good group of vets over there,” Fiske said. “They’ve done their time. They’re living life lavish.”
Rams coach Sean McVay said he typically lets Brendan Burger, the team’s senior director of equipment, assign lockers, because “he’s got such a good feel.” McVay is not a believer in keeping the offensive players in one place and the defenders elsewhere.
“So much of the days are broken up where it’s offense-defense separate, and to just be able to create that natural interaction and appreciation for each other — not exclusive to just one side of the ball — that’s kind of what goes into it,” McVay said.
As a rookie, Nacua was also near cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, a veteran he used to go up against daily on the practice field.
“It’s always fun post-practice to come and be like, ‘Alright, what were you thinking right here when I lined up against you and I doubled up at the line of scrimmage and then you jab this way?'” Nacua said. “So having a [defensive back] next to you is something that you don’t really imagine in the locker room, but it’s also really fun because you have some great conversations.”
San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan doesn’t have two players from the same position group sitting directly next to each other in any instance unless it’s the practice squad or when the roster is at 90 players.
“I put a lot of thought into it,” Shanahan said. “I like to mix everything up, because you’re always with your position groups, you’re always in rooms with ’em.
“Position groups are always going to be tight. You don’t get too many opportunities to cross over. You’re always competing on the field, sometimes fighting. So I think it’s important to mix everybody up.”
The Falcons were so happy with the Bates-Penix arrangement that they have rookie cornerback Billy Bowman Jr. next to three-time Pro Bowl right guard Chris Lindstrom this season.
“For Penix, it was more like, ‘This is what a pro looks like,'” Morris said. “I know you got [Kirk Cousins in the quarterback] room, but here’s another pro from the different side of the ball that you probably didn’t even know moved this way. And it’s just always things that you can do for people and that they can see to help them be the best version of themselves.”
McCarthy was sandwiched between Smith and wide receiver Justin Jefferson as a rookie last year in Minnesota. And professionalism is what stood out the most.
“Their day-to-day routine is something that is extremely beneficial,” McCarthy said. “Just being able to observe as a young guy is one of the biggest things for any young player coming into this league.
“So, I feel like building relationships with those guys is going to be something that I carry with me for the rest of my career.”
#49ers Trent Williams turned his locker into the VIP section 😂#ProBowlVote Trent Williams pic.twitter.com/2fdMXJqYrq
— 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙎𝙁𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 (@TheSFNiners) December 11, 2023
When Moses was a young player with Washington, his locker was near future Hall of Fame tackle Trent Williams’. It wasn’t directly next to Williams’ — “he had three lockers!” Moses said — but it was close enough to pick up some tips and advice from the three-time first-team All-Pro. Now, Moses is paying it forward with Campbell and the Patriots.
“Not saying I’m at [Williams’] caliber, but the years I’ve been able to play, just being able to sit beside Will in the locker room and be able to talk over looks — we’ll pass the iPad back and forth, bounce questions,” Moses said. “That’s what you like because that brings camaraderie and brotherhood.”
THE COWBOYS HAVE been strategic about locker locations going back to Garrett’s tenure as coach in the 2010s. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb resides at a locker once held by tight end Jason Witten and guard Zack Martin. Offensive tackle Terence Steele is in a corner spot once held by defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence. Cornerback C.J. Goodwin and defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa are in corner lockers once occupied by offensive tackle Tyron Smith and linebacker Sean Lee, respectively. Running back Miles Sanders, a free agent signee, is now in the spot near the equipment room that backup quarterback Cooper Rush once held.
New Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer has added some of his own wrinkles, though, including putting pass rusher Micah Parsons near the middle of the room next to quarterback Dak Prescott’s locker.
“Two of our best players, put them together,” Schottenheimer said. “There’s also other things we’re doing in there where guys are competing every day in different things that we’ve kind of put in there, but just they can challenge each other in a good way. … There’s a method to the madness.”
In some cases, players who have some leverage because of their standing on the team can make specific locker requests. Famously, Patriots legend Tom Brady requested the new star player he’d be throwing to — wide receiver Randy Moss — be next to him.
Slay petitioned that Mitchell be his neighbor last season, which ended in Mitchell being one of the best rookies in the league as the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman told Mitchell on draft night: “I want you to live next door to Slay. I want you to sleep next to Slay. That’s your guy.”
“We talk a lot about life, and he just gives me life lessons, and it translates onto the field,” Mitchell said in 2024. “During the games, I’m asking him what he’s seeing and what he thinks is coming up during the next series. I lean on him a lot.”
The Cincinnati Bengals recently shook things up in their locker room, switching the defensive line and offensive line areas. The offensive linemen are now closer to Joe Burrow and the other quarterbacks.
“Everybody walks past me when they come in, when they’re out,” Burrow said. “So, I’m saying hi to everybody. It’s been nice to have [offensive linemen Orlando Brown Jr.] and Ted [Karras] right there. Those are my guys.”
Do locker assignments matter a great deal? Can they make the difference between winning and losing? Some players are skeptical. In a few cases, the dynamic can become toxic. New York Jets wide receivers Keyshawn Johnson and Wayne Chrebet had lockers next to one another in 1997 and they did not get along at all. They wouldn’t even acknowledge each other when both were doing media at the same time. Johnson, in his book, referred to Chrebet as the “team mascot” and later said comparing the two was like comparing “a flashlight to a star.”
“I think when you look that deep into it, you could always find good, bad or however you want to,” Bears defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “At the end of the day, I still got to line up and play my defense as called.”
But that won’t stop coaching staffs from at least giving some thought to where players are situated in their locker rooms. The Falcons believe it has paid dividends when it comes to Penix. Bates became a big part of helping position Penix for the role he’s in now: Atlanta’s starting quarterback.
“I can break it down in so much detail,” Penix said of his and Bates’ conversations last year, “but I’ll be talking forever.”
Additional reporting by Todd Archer, Ben Baby, Sarah Barshop, Rich Cimini, Courtney Cronin, Mike DiRocco, John Keim, Tim McManus, Mike Reiss, Kevin Seifert, Nate Taylor, Katherine Terrell and Nick Wagoner.
