The Steelers are now in their offseason after failing to reach the playoffs in 2022, coming up just a game short of sneaking in as the seventh seed. They needed help in week 18 and only got some of it, so instead, they sat home and watched the playoffs with the rest of us.
On tap is figuring out how to be on the field in January and February instead of being a spectator. They started out 2-6, digging a hole that proved too deep to dig out of even if they managed to go 7-2 in the second half of the year.
Starting from the end of the regular season and leading all the way up to the beginning of the 2023 season, there are plenty of questions that need answering, starting with who will be the offensive coordinator. Which free agents will be kept? Who might be let go due to their salary? How might they tackle free agency with this new front office? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout this offseason, as we have for many years.
Question: What exactly will Aaron Curry’s role be on the coaching staff?
While the Steelers have not officially announced the hiring of Aaron Curry to their coaching staff, it has already been reported. That includes Curry himself, updating his Twitter bio, which now displays himself as a Steelers linebacker coach.
But just what will his role be, exactly? The Steelers already have a couple of coaches who work with the linebackers, even with the loss of Brian Flores. Jerry Olsavsky has been a linebackers coach for a number of years, primarily with the inside guys.
Denzel Martin is a coaching assistant who works with the outside linebackers. And after Joey Porter was let go as outside linebackers coach, that job was folded into the responsibilities of Keith Butler as defensive coordinator and Karl Dunbar as defensive line coach.
This is not to suggest that there isn’t room for Curry. But I think there is room for clarification of what exactly he will be tasked with. One wonders if that will even be made clear whenever the Steelers make the hire official. I would guess not.
A former top-five draft pick in 2009 as a linebacker, Curry was not an elite player on the field, but he immediately made the transition into coaching after his playing career was over. As we’ve pointed out, he was on the staff of the Charlotte 49ers, the college attended by Alex Highsmith and Larry Ogunjobi.
He served as a coaching assistant for the past four years with the Seattle Seahawks, the team that drafted him. Now he’ll be in a new city and a new environment with a new promotion, a titled position coach opportunity. Perhaps a spot where he can grow.
