Matthew and Brown originally placed "Dromaeosaurus" within "Deinodontidae" (now known as Tyrannosauridae), based on some similarities in the general proportions of the skull. In 1969, John Ostrom recognized that "Dromaeosaurus" shared many features with "Velociraptor" and the newly-discovered "Deinonychus", and assigned these forms to a new family: Dromaeosauridae.