The Pittsburgh Steelers made an addition to the coaching staff recently, naming Jason Brooks defensive quality control coach. The son of a veteran defensive line coach in Clarence Brooks, he began his coaching career in 2006. He worked on the Baltimore Ravens’ staff, along with his father, as an offensive assistant and quality control coach from 2009-2011 before spending several seasons in the college ranks.
He returned to Baltimore in 2021 as an assistant defensive line coach before moving into an analyst role last season. Now he joins Pittsburgh’s staff as a defensive quality control coach, a job head coach Mike Tomlin believes he is very equipped for.
“He’s what you call a professional quality control man”, he told Max Starks in an interview for the team’s website. “He’s done it in this league for a long time at a high level. He has experience in analytics and quality control. He also has on-field coaching experience, so he’s a guy whose profile is exciting from a positional standpoint, because there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that needs to get done in order to make our days go”.
Tomlin pointed chiefly to practice settings and the importance of the quality control staff in keeping the days flowing fluidly in order to output productive days of work. He joins Matt Tomsho as the only members of the staff currently bearing the title of quality control coach, though others moonlight on such tasks as well.
Generally speaking, the Steelers have had pretty consistent patterns in how they formulate their practices, though not without variety. Whenever a new coach is brought in, you might see some of their new ideas incorporated, as we’ve seen with the likes of Eddie Faulkner, Teryl Austin, Brian Flores, and others.
Holding productive practices is as important in today’s game as it has ever been, given that the amount of practice time is limited. Maximizing the efficiency of the Steelers’ work on the field is the principle task for Brooks moving forward.
“Oftentimes I challenge those guys in that way: control the quality, meaning the cleanliness, the fluidity of our day is oftentimes dictated by their preparedness and the preparedness of those that they work with”, Tomlin said.
“The more they can tee up a scout squad or a card offense or defense, and their [readiness] to provide an accurate look fluidly and get in and out of the huddle at a good pace, it really kind of adds fluidity and a good field to our day, so it’s significant work”.
The Steelers perennially have among the smallest coaching staffs in the NFL. But as one of their former assistants, Blaine Stewart, talked about recently, that allows a greater intimacy and productivity of instructional work, for both the coaches and the players.
Still, fans wouldn’t complain about the team expanding its staff to levels more comparable to others around the league. There isn’t much correlation between coaching staff size and success, of course. If you have the right people working and not giving them more than they can handle, then your staff is the right size, no matter how large or small.
