Jerry Olsavsky

Steelers Add Aaron Curry To Staff

Former top-five draftee Aaron Curry is moving up the ladder in the coaching ranks. After spending three seasons as a Seahawks assistant, he is joining the Steelers’ staff as a position coach.

The one-time No. 4 overall pick tweeted he will be Pittsburgh-bound, and Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes (via Twitter) the Steelers are hiring Curry as their inside linebackers coach. Longtime Steelers assistant Jerry Olsavsky will not be back for the 2023 season, Dulac tweets. The Steelers have since announced Curry’s hire.

Curry, 36, will arrive shortly after Brian Flores left to become the Vikings’ defensive coordinator. Flores was not expected to stay long, with Mike Tomlin hiring the veteran staffer as his linebackers coach and senior defensive assistant after his surprise Miami exit. The Steelers will now turn the keys over to a younger staffer.

Although Curry’s NFL playing career did not pan out as expected, he is one of the highest-drafted off-ball linebackers in modern NFL history and has been coaching for nearly 10 years now. After spending five seasons at the University of Charlotte, Curry joined the Seahawks — the team that drafted him 14 years ago — as an assistant. He spent the past three years as a Seattle defensive staffer. This will be his first go-round being an NFL position coach.

The Steelers’ defensive staff will look at bit different in 2023. Assistant HC John Mitchell retired after 29 seasons with the organization, and Olsavsky is out after 22 years — as a player and coach — with the team. A former Steelers 10th-round pick who played nine seasons with the team (37 starts), Olsavsky had been on Tomlin’s staff for the past 13 seasons — eight as inside linebackers coach.

Coaching Notes: Steelers, Falcons, Raiders

Former Steelers linebackers coach Keith Butler is now the club’s defensive coordinator, so a pair of assistants have received promotions to fill the hole on the staff. The Steelers announced today that Jerry Olsavsky will coach the team’s inside linebackers, while Joey Porter will coach the outside linebackers, according to Steelers.com. Both coaches played linebacker for the Steelers before coming back to coach with the organization.

Here are some other coaching notes from around the NFL:

  • We heard earlier this week that Seahawks assistant Marquand Manuel was expected to follow Dan Quinn to Atlanta, and Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com confirms that news today, tweeting that Manuel signed his two-year deal to join the Falcons. He’ll serve as the club’s defensive backs coach and senior defensive consultant. McClure gives credit to his colleague Josina Anderson for the report.
  • After announcing earlier today that Ken Norton Jr. would be their new defensive coordinator, the Raiders are filling out the defensive staff under Norton. University of Miami defensive line coach Jethro Franklin will be headed to Oakland to accept the same job with the Raiders, reports Thayer Evans of SI.com (via Twitter).
  • Central Michigan University has hired Lions special teams coach John Bonamego to be their new head coach, reports Hondo Carter of SpartanNation.com (via Twitter). It will be Bonamego’s first head coaching opportunity.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.