Coming off his third season with the Pittsburgh Steelers as their secondary coach, Grady Brown is becoming a name to know, not only in Pittsburgh but across the NFL landscape as well.
Brown, who helped oversee the development of rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. this season and held things together in the secondary late in the season despite playing a number of new faces due to injury, including veteran Eric Rowe off the practice squad, is becoming a name to watch as a potential defensive coordinator candidate.
In a piece for CBSSports.com Wednesday, Cody Benjamin highlighted Brown as one of the most underrated NFL coordinator candidates, placing Brown alongside the likes of Ravens defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, Vikings wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell, Rams running backs coach Ron Gould, and former NFL head coach Mike Zimmer, who was last consulting at the college level.
“Coming off his third year as the Steelers’ secondary coach, a role in which he’s overseen career marks from Minkah Fitzpatrick and learned under Mike Tomlin, Brown also has an extensive college resume that includes coordinator experience,” Benjamin writes. “Pittsburgh stalwarts like Cameron Heyward have credited Brown with helping the Steelers stay afloat in 2023 amid injuries.”
Since joining the Steelers in 2021 from the collegiate ranks, Brown has left his imprint on the secondary, getting a career year out of Minkah Fitzpatrick in 2021, helping Porter develop into a shutdown No. 1 corner as a rookie, and getting the best out of Cameron Sutton in 2022 before he left in free agency. That doesn’t even hit on the fact that Brown helped steady Terrell Edmunds as a box safety.
Brown did some of his best work this past season, keeping the Steelers afloat in the secondary with Patrick Peterson and Rowe playing safety as well as guys like Levi Wallace and Chandon Sullivan stepping into larger roles at cornerback due to injuries at safety.
Heyward did credit Brown, as well as linebackers coach Aaron Curry, for getting guys up to speed quickly and making them comfortable in their roles. That’s no easy feat.
Brown is becoming a rising coaching star in the NFL, a testament to head coach Mike Tomlin’s ability to find talent on the coaching side of things, at least defensively. Brown served as a defensive coordinator at the Senior Bowl last season and got great exposure doing so, and then had a strong year in Pittsburgh.
He’s not the only Steelers defensive coach getting exposure across the NFL landscape. Assistant secondary coach Gerald Alexander, a former NFL safety who has been with the Steelers the last two seasons, reportedly interviewed for the New England Patriots’ defensive coordinator position recently and will coach linebackers at the East-West Shrine Bowl in Dallas.
Were Brown to get a defensive coordinator position elsewhere in the NFL, the Steelers would receive two third-round picks as compensation from the league.
