Steel City Blitz
An annual rite of passage… Our Training Camp Previews for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The concept here is pretty straightforward; we’ll take a look at each position. Who is vying for a place on the 53-man roster and how will that happen? Obviously there are some spots much each easier to break down than others but we’ll do our best to cover it all. Today we cover the Coaching Staff.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers finished their 2024 campaign by losing four straight regular season games and then getting run over by Baltimore in the Wild-Card Round, changes were promised. Well, Teryl Austin is still the Defensive Coordinator and Arthur Smith is still the Offensive Coordinator. Mike Tomlin is still the Head Coach and the team will still wear Black and Gold.
Jokes aside, the changes that were promised must be coming in other forms. Are there some new twists on offense? Are they making things easier for the guys to communicate on defense? As we often say in this business, “we shall see.” The only significant change to the staff was the return of Gerald Alexander as the Secondary Coach.
Alexander played his college ball at Boise State where he was part of the Fiesta Bowl team that upset Oklahoma. His NFL career started in Detroit in 2007 and ended in 2011. For a second round pick, his career was less than stellar as he spent time with five different teams. Alexander started his coaching career at Arkansas State as a Student Assistant. He made his way into the NFL in 2020 as the Defensive Backs Coach for the Dolphins.
He spent 2022 and 2023 as the Steelers Assistant DBs Coach before departing for Las Vegas where he coached the Safeties. Alexander is replacing Grady Brown who was not retained by the team. There is no doubt that the biggest challenge facing Alexander will be communication. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousands times… The communication issues in the secondary have been a problem for years.
With new (and veteran) players like Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey and Juan Thornhill on board, there has to be some optimism that things will get better in this regard. Many believe however that the players and the position coach haven’t been the problem. It’s been more about Austin and to an extent, Tomlin. Regardless, Alexander will be under the microscope in 2025.
The post SCB Steelers 2025 Training Camp Previews: Staff Changes appeared first on Steel City Blitz.
