The Pittsburgh Steelers are making another addition to their defensive staff, adding former Baltimore Ravens assistant defensive line coach Jason Brooks as a defensive assistant, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic.
Brooks has extensive college and NFL coaching experience. He began his career as a student assistant coach at Middle Tennessee State in 2006. In 2007, he jumped to the Miami Dolphins as a scouting assistant and also worked with tight ends. From 2009-2012 he worked with the Ravens in a variety of roles, including offensive quality control coach. He was part of the Ravens’ staff in 2012 when the team won the Super Bowl.
From there, Brooks went to Florida International University where he coached defense and special teams for four years. After FIU, Brooks went north to Maine where was a coach at Colby College before joining Charleston Southern in 2019 as defensive line coach. He rejoined the Ravens in 2021 and spent the last two years in Baltimore.
Given his experience working across position groups, Brooks is an interesting hire, someone who can work with the whole defense. It’s unclear if he’ll have a defined role beyond defensive assistant, and we’ll likely find that out when the team makes the hiring official.
Brooks’s father, Clarence, served as the Ravens’ defensive line coach from 2005-2015 and was also an assistant for the Bears, Browns and Dolphins during his NFL coaching career.
His hiring likely serves as the replacement for assistant wide receivers coach Blaine Stewart, who left to take a job as tight ends coach at West Virginia University.
Brooks joins linebackers coach Aaron Curry as new additions to the staff for 2023. Pittsburgh saw three coaches depart in Stewart, Brian Flores, who left to take the job as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, and former linebackers coach Jerry Olsavsky.
Olsavsky parted ways with the team after the hiring of Curry.
