Steelers promote their OLB coach from within, also add a defensive quality control coach

The Pittsburgh Steelers under Mike Tomlin have been known for having one of the smallest coaching staffs in the NFL. Last season they were tied with the Las Vegas Raiders as the smallest coaching staff in the league with 18 coaches.

Already this offseason the Steelers have lost three coaches, but have started to fill out their staff as the 2023 NFL Draft approaches. After the hiring of Aaron Curry as inside linebackers coach, the Steelers needed to fill the void at outside linebackers coach. After Brian Flores left to be the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator, the team has decided to promote from within to fill that void.

The team promoted Denzel Ward to outside linebackers coach, and also names Jason Brooks as a defensive quality control coach.

This from the Steelers official Twitter feed:

When it comes to Brooks and his coaching resume, this is from the Steelers official website:

Brooks comes to the Steelers from the Baltimore Ravens where he spent the last two seasons. In total he has spent six seasons with the Ravens in multiple roles, including football analyst (2022), assistant defensive line/quality control coach (2021) as well as offensive quality coach and offensive assistant (2009-12).

Brooks spent two seasons at Charleston Southern University where he was the defensive line coach. In his first season at Charleston Southern three defensive linemen earned first-team All-Big South honors and the school set a single season sack record with 35, while also recording 95 tackles for a loss, sixth-most in the conference.

Prior to that he spent two years at Colby College in Maine in the same position. Brooks also spent four years coaching defensive backs and special teams at Florida International University and served as the wide receivers coach at Norwich University.

In addition, Brooks worked as a scouting assistant for the Miami Dolphins from 2007-08, working as the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship.

Brooks, who graduated from Middle Tennessee State, comes from strong football bloodlines. His late father, Clarence Brooks, coached 24 years in the NFL as the defensive line coach for the Ravens, Dolphins, Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears and 17 on the college level.

As for Martin, here is a breakdown of his resume not just with the Steelers, but what he brings to the team as the new man in charge of the outside linebackers. This, too, is from Steelers.com:

Martin spent the past four seasons as the team’s assistant outside linebackers coach and has spent the last eight seasons with the organization prior to being named outside linebackers coach. He started his Steelers career as a scouting assistant in 2016-17 and then moved to the coaching side where he was a coaching assistant from 2018-19.

Martin was a part of coaching the defense that held opponents to 17 points or less through the final seven games of the 2022 season. Three members of that defense, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, outside linebacker T.J. Watt and defensive tackle Cameron Heyward were all named to the 2023 Pro Bowl Games.

Prior to joining the Steelers he spent the 2015 season at this alma mater, the University of Missouri, where he was a recruiting graduate assistant. Martin, who is from St. Louis, Missouri, played linebacker at the school from 2010-14 and earned a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in positive coaching.

The Steelers will likely continue to look into adding to their coaching staff before the start of the new season, and for all the latest news and notes surrounding the team you can expect it to be found right here at BTSC.