The Pittsburgh Steelers are reportedly going to fill the vacancy left on their coaching staff by Brian Flores by hiring Aaron Curry as a linebackers coach, according to Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports. Curry spent the past four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, most recently serving as their assistant defensive line/defensive ends coach. He joined Seattle in 2019 as a coaching assistant and from 2020-21 he served as a defensive assistant/linebackers coach before transitioning to his current role before this season.
Curry was a former top-five pick, as he was drafted fourth overall by Seattle in the 2009 NFL Draft out of Wake Forest. He also played for the then-Oakland Raiders in his NFL career, which ended after five seasons.
With Flores leaving to take the defensive coordinator job with the Minnesota Vikings, Curry will likely fill his role as linebackers coach. The team also has Jerry Olsavsky still on staff to coach linebackers.
Curry is the Steelers’ first coach hiring this offseason. In addition to Flores, the team also lost assistant wide receivers coach Blaine Stewart to a job at West Virginia University and assistant head coach John Mitchell to retirement this offseason. It’s safe to assume the Steelers will look to fill the vacancy of Stewart within the next few weeks.
Curry earned high praise from Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll during the 2021 season.
“I’ve been surprised and absolutely blown away by how far he’s come so fast,” Carroll said. “He’s an incredible part of what our staff is all about right now. He’s got the sense, he’s got the delivery, and he’s got a really good mentality about dealing, talking with, and challenging players,” Carroll told MLive in November 2021.
As a former player not all that far removed from his playing days, Curry could provide an interesting perspective to the Steelers staff. Pittsburgh now has six total staff members dedicated to defense, as Curry joins Olsavsky, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, defensive line coach Karl Dunbar, secondary coach Grady Brown, and assistant outside linebackers coach Denzel Martin.
It remains to be seen if Curry will focus on all the linebackers as Flores did or specifically work with the outside linebackers. Olsavsky’s title is Inside Linebackers Coach, and given Curry’s experience as an outside linebacker in the NFL, it’s safe to assume that’s the area he’s best with. We’ll likely have more details once the hiring becomes official.
