Not only is looking like the Pittsburgh Steelers will retain Keith Butler as their defensive coordinator in 2019, he’s also likely to take over the job Joey Porter previously had on the staff, coaching the outside linebackers as well.
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Friday, the Steelers are considering having Butler handle the role he formerly held for 12 years before being promoted to defensive coordinator — coaching the outside linebackers after the tean decided not to renew Porter’s contract last week.
Butler, who has been on the Steelers coaching staff since 2003, coached the linebackers until being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2014. Porter was hired as a defensive assistant in 2014 and was named the team’s outside linebackers coach in 2015.
Dulac points out in his report that the Steelers might hire another defensive assistant to replace Porter on the staff and that an additional secondary coach might be hired in the coming weeks as well.
Having a coordinator with multiple roles on the coaching staff wouldn’t be something new for the Steelers as we saw Randy Fichtner also continue coaching the quarterbacks last season after being named the team’s new offensive coordinator. However, the Steelers did hire Matt Symmes as an offensive coaching assistant last year and he reportedly helped mainly with the quarterbacks.
Dulac ended his Friday report by passing on word that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has dispatched his entire coaching staff to the upcoming Senior Bowl and thus that’s an indication that no more high-profile coaching staff changes will take place.
