Last season, Pittsburgh Steelers’ secondary coach Grady Brown was the new guy in the room, one that made the jump from the collegiate ranks to the NFL, taking over a rather talented secondary in the Steel City.
Now, ahead of his second season on head coach Mike Tomlin’s coaching staff, Brown is no longer the new guy, having established himself as a strong voice in the defensive room, especially in the secondary. In steps former NFL head coach and longtime defensive coordinator Brian Flores as the new guy in the room.
Though Flores brings a vast wealth of knowledge and experience that trumps Brown a bit, the second-year secondary coach is excited to get the chance to work and learn from Flores within the Steelers’ defensive room, stating to reporters Wednesday prior to Day 2 of mandatory minicamp, according to video via Steelers.com, that it’s good to have different minds at the table defensively.
“It’s the wealth of knowledge, a different perspective,” Brown said to reporters regarding Flores, according to video via Steelers.com. “We have coaches, obviously Mike T is an accomplished defensive coach, accomplished coach in general. He has a set of experiences. TA [Teryl Austin] has done a lot of things. He’s an accomplished coach, seeing a lot of things.
“Flo [Flores] comes in with a different perspective. None of us have worked together before,” Brown added. “So, while those guys bring a lot of experience, they’ve never worked together before. So there are a lot of ideas, a lot of different concepts, you know? So it’s always good to have different minds at the table.”
Any way you try and slice it, even if Flores is only in Pittsburgh for one season rebuilding his stock after a frustrating end to his tenure in Miami that resulted in him suing the league for discrimination, the Steelers will benefit greatly from adding a coach of his caliber to a defensive room featuring the likes of Austin, defensive line coach Karl Dunbar, linebackers coach Jerry Olsavsky, and Brown.
That’s a pretty strong room overall, one that brings a vast wealth of knowledge, as Brown pointed out.
Of course, in any situation where there’s so many experienced, headstrong, passionate people, the concern of “too many cooks in the kitchen” can arise, especially in a situation where everyone hasn’t quite worked together — in terms of experience — in their respective roles. Led by Tomlin though, that shouldn’t be the case. Each coach on the defensive side brings something unique to the table, as Brown pointed out.
The Steelers will only benefit from that greatly on the defensive side of the football.
