Over the years, the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staffs haven't exactly produced many young, up-and-coming candidates across the NFL. They've hired former head coaches, like Mike Munchak and Brian Flores, to their staffs, but they haven't produced a lot of homegrown coaching talent. They've hardly been a breeding ground for producing head coaches and coordinators.
Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin comes onto the field during a game in the 2022 regular season. Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (@JSKO_PHOTO Twitter)
Teryl Austin is an example of a guy that worked his way through the organization to become the team's defensive coordinator. Other NFL teams though aren't starving to come interview coaches within Pittsburgh's organization. That may change with a guy that is currently on the coaching staff. That would be defensive backs coach, Grady Brown.
Brown has been the team's secondary coach for the past two seasons now, earning rave reviews along the way. When listening to him talk, one can tell that he's a brilliant football mind. This week, he's getting the unique opportunity to showcase his coaching talents. He is the defensive coordinator for the National team at this week's Senior Bowl, which takes place on Saturday. He spoke about those opportunities, via Dale Lolley of Steelers.com.
"Definitely," Brown said about a desire to be a DC in the NFL. "After being in the NFL for two years now and getting a better handle on the game, I believe have the talent to be a coordinator at some point in my career. Right now, it's just about doing the best job I can do as with the position that I have, trying to make sure everybody is reaching their potential as a player. I believe that is my job as a coach. Everything else will take care of itself."
Brown climbed the coaching ranks in college football, working for several different schools as a defensive coordinator in some places and as the DBs coach in others. He admitted that he certainly sees this week as an opportunity to become a defensive coordinator again in the future. For now, he's focused on helping the soon-to-be NFL players in their transition to the pros.
In his second year coaching the Steelers' defensive backs, Brown had to deal with several injuries to his guys. All in all though, they all showed some encouraging signs. The safeties particularly played exceptional, as Terrell Edmunds had a career-best year and Minkah Fitzpatrick made his third All-Pro team.
Unfortunately for Brown, the defensive coordinator role may not take place in Pittsburgh. After the retirement of Keith Butler last offseason, Teryl Austin was elevated from within the organization to take over as the defensive coordinator. In his first season, he certainly underwent some struggles early in the season. TJ Watt's significant injury, which forced him to miss seven games, made Austin's job a bit harder.
He seemed to bounce back well though, and there are big hopes for the future of the defense. It's nice for Austin to have a guy like Brown though, a coach filled with a mixture of experience and potential. Between Brown, Flores and even DL coach Karl Dunbar, the Steelers defensive staff seems to be deeper than in years past.
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