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Pittsburgh Steelers News & Rumors

AFC North Notes: Ravens, Lamar, Steelers

January 28th, 2023 at 2:14pm CST by Ely Allen

In a press conference this past Thursday, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta spoke to the future of several Ravens players as the team heads into the offseason. Although the free agency of quarterback Lamar Jackson is obviously the main headline of Baltimore’s offseason, DeCosta still has plenty on his plate from key free agents like cornerback Marcus Peters and offensive guard Ben Powers to veterans flirting with retirement like defensive tackle Calais Campbell.

Peters is headed towards free agency this offseason after three seasons in Baltimore. The Ravens have been fairly top-heavy at the cornerback position in the past few years with Peters and Marlon Humphrey. They invested some draft capital in the position last year, selecting rookies Jalyn Armour-Davis and Damarion Williams, but due to experience and injuries, they were still forced to rely on contributions from the likes of Daryl Worley and Kevon Seymour. The team signed free agent Kyle Fuller in the offseason, but a Week 1 knee injury knocked him out for the year. DeCosta hinted that the team will continue to try and add more talent at cornerback regardless of whether or not they are able to re-sign Peters.

Powers continued his play this year as a full-time starter and had his best NFL season in a contract year. He may follow the likes of former Ravens’ linemen like Ryan Jensen and Kelechi Osemele, who priced themselves out of a new contract in Baltimore in the past.

The Ravens were able to sign trade acquisition Roquan Smith to a long-term deal and now are faced with the contract situation of fellow linebacker Patrick Queen. Queen’s play elevated substantially while playing alongside Smith and has the Ravens considering his future going into this offseason. DeCosta said he isn’t ready to announce that they will pick up Queen’s fifth-year option, but he made sure to clarify that Smith’s contract won’t preclude them from signing Queen long-term.

Lastly, the Ravens have two esteemed veterans that could consider hanging up their cleats. Campbell mulled retirement last season and will likely kick the idea around a bit once again this offseason. Pass rusher Justin Houston is under contract for another season but could potentially call it a career. He stated recently that he does intend to keep playing, and both athletes met with DeCosta before leaving town for the offseason.

Here are a few more rumors from around the AFC North, starting with the main storyline for the offseason in Charm City:

  • Ryan Clark referenced a debate on ESPN’s first take recently about the details of offers made to Jackson. A source provided knowledge that the Ravens’ initial offer had $113MM in guaranteed money and that offer was eventually upped to $133MM. That guaranteed amount doesn’t come anywhere close to Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson‘s $230MM guaranteed contract, but the second offer would be the most guaranteed money to any quarterback in the NFL besides Watson.
  • The Steelers’ coaching staff is set to undergo some changes this offseason. According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, one coach on his way out is assistant wide receivers coach Blaine Stewart who is set to join the staff at West Virginia University. Stewart’s father, Bill, served as head coach of the Mountaineers from 2008-10.
  • The Buccaneers parted ways with offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich at the end of this season. The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly speculated that, unless Leftwich finds work elsewhere as an offensive play caller, the former Steelers quarterback could find a role as an offensive assistant on Mike Tomlin‘s staff. Kaboly posits that a role as senior offensive assistant/passing-game coordinator could be in play for Leftwich. Leftwich would essentially be a coordinator-in-waiting as current offensive coordinator Matt Canada is in the final year of his contract.

Vikings To Interview Brian Flores, Mike Pettine For DC

January 25th, 2023 at 6:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

6:25pm: The Vikings announced on Twitter that they completed their interview with Pettine.

3:00pm: Like Frank Reich and Eric Bieniemy, Brian Flores is navigating an offseason that includes both head coach and coordinator interest. The Steelers assistant remains a frontrunner for the Cardinals’ HC job and has met with the Falcons about their DC post. More coordinator meetings are on the former HC’s docket.

The Vikings are set to interview Flores on Thursday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Minnesota is meeting with both Flores and Mike Pettine. The latter spent the season as an assistant on Kevin O’Connell‘s staff. Pettine, Flores, Seahawks assistant Sean Desai and Saints co-DC Ryan Nielsen comprise the Vikes’ search thus far.

The former Browns HC who provided an additional voice for the new Vikings staff this season, Pettine has been a coordinator for three teams — the Jets, Bills and Packers — and has 10 years of combined experience on the HC and DC levels. Pettine, 56, has been in the NFC North for the past five seasons, with a 2021 Bears stop bridging his path from Green Bay to Minnesota.

Green Bay’s defense ranked ninth and 13th in Pettine’s final two seasons but fell apart in a blowout NFC championship game loss in San Francisco and allowed Tampa Bay to mount a big lead in the first half of the ensuing NFC title tilt. Pettine has been a coordinator for four teams that ventured to the conference championship round, beginning that run under Rex Ryan with the 2009 and ’10 Jets. Pettine went 10-22 in Cleveland, though the first of his two seasons (2014) doubled as the best Browns campaign between 2007 and 2018.

Receiving Falcons and Vikings interview requests recently, Flores almost certainly will be on hold for DC gigs until the Cardinals make their HC decision. Arizona hiring ex-New England exec Monti Ossenfort as GM bodes well for Flores, who spent this season as Pittsburgh’s linebackers coach. Flores went 24-25 with the Dolphins, despite beginning that tenure with one of this century’s worst NFL rosters. Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and a few of its teams is ongoing, but the ex-Bill Belichick lieutenant looks set to make a jump to either the coordinator level or receive a second HC chance soon.

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/23/23

January 23rd, 2023 at 6:30pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s reserve/futures deals, mostly featuring teams recently eliminated from the postseason:

Buffalo Bills

Dallas Cowboys

Jacksonville Jaguars

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Vikings Request DC Interview With Brian Flores

January 21st, 2023 at 12:26pm CST by Ben Levine

We’ve got our first candidate for the Vikings defensive coordinator job. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter), the Vikings have requested permission to interview Steelers senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach Brian Flores for their defensive coordinator vacancy.

[RELATED: Vikings Fire DC Ed Donatell]

Flores has once again been a popular name this offseason. The 41-year-old interviewed for the Cardinals head coaching job (and was considered by some to be the favorite), and he’s also been connected to defensive coordinator openings with the Browns and Falcons. These interviews followed a 2022 campaign where Flores served as the Steelers linebackers coach.

Flores does have a minor connection to Minnesota, having overlapped with head coach Kevin O’Connell for a year in New England. The Vikings announced earlier this week that they would “be going in a different direction at defensive coordinator in 2023,” ending the tenure of defensive play-caller Ed Donatell. Several potential candidates have been mentioned for the opening, including Vikings assistant head coach Mike Pettine.

As our own Sam Robinson recently noted, Flores has never officially held the title of defensive coordinator; he was a position coach in New England while serving as the team’s unofficial DC following Matt Patricia’s exit to Detroit. Flores ended up winning four rings before getting a head coaching gig with the Dolphins in 2019. His tenure in Miami was shaky, culminating in a discrimination lawsuit following his surprise 2022 firing. Still, Flores was connected to a handful of head coaching openings last offseason, and following one year in Pittsburgh, he’s looking at a top coaching role for the 2023 campaign.

Steelers To Retain OC Matt Canada

January 18th, 2023 at 12:04pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although Matt Canada‘s Steelers OC stay has not produced a turnaround on offense, the Steelers continue to support him. It does not look like the team plans to move on.

The Steelers are expected to retain Canada, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Should this course of action commence, the increasingly unpopular play-caller will be going into his third season in this role. ESPN’s Brooke Pryor noted earlier this week momentum did not appear to exist for a Steelers change here (Twitter link). The Steelers have since confirmed Canada will stay.

Canada has now worked with three starting quarterbacks during his time in Pittsburgh. Following Ben Roethlisberger‘s retirement, the Steelers signed Mitch Trubisky. The Trubisky bridge did not last especially long, with the team making the shift to Kenny Pickett early in the season. Canada sticking around will give the young passer some early-career continuity, though Canada’s offense will likely need to improve in 2023 to open the door to a long-term partnership. One year remains on Canada’s contract, Dulac adds.

Hired as the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2020, after serving as OC for seven college programs from 2007-18, Canada took the OC reins from Randy Fichtner the following season. While the Steelers have regressed in scoring in each of the past three years, going from 12th to 21st to 26th, the team did improve in offensive DVOA this season. After ranking 25th in this metric during Roethlisberger’s final slate, the team slotted 18th during Pickett’s rookie season.

The Steelers finished .500 or better for a 19th straight season, extending Mike Tomlin‘s streak to 16 such years. Canada’s offense was far from potent; the team’s 28 offensive touchdowns were the third-fewest in the league. But Pickett showed progress down the stretch and will enter 2023 as the team’s unquestioned starter. QBR placed Pickett 20th, and the Pitt product piloted the team to six wins in his final seven starts. During that span, Pickett engineered back-to-back game-winning drives — over the Raiders and Ravens — to end the season on a higher note. While Pickett’s 7-to-9 touchdown pass-to-interception ratio (in 13 games) leaves much to be desired, the Steelers are not planning to shake things up early in the first-rounder’s career.

Diontae Johnson, whom the Steelers handed an $18MM-per-year extension late this past offseason, set an NFL record for most receptions (86) without a touchdown. But second-round rookie George Pickens emerged as a potential standout, hauling in 52 passes for 801 yards and four TDs. Pat Freiermuth also took a second-year leap. The Steelers could use another viable pass catcher, after trading Chase Claypool, and their offensive line — a unit chock full of midlevel investments or players on mid-round rookie deals — is certainly not a top-shelf quintet. It appears the team will aim at personnel upgrades rather than overhauling its scheme.

Cardinals Request HC Interview With Ejiro Evero

January 17th, 2023 at 9:08pm CST by Ben Levine

Ejiro Evero is turning into a very popular name for head coaching gigs. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter), the Cardinals have requested permission to interview the Broncos defensive coordinator for their head coaching vacancy.

[RELATED: Cardinals Hire Monti Ossenfort As GM]

Evero has bounced around the NFL coaching ranks in pursuit of promotions, culminating in him being hired as the Broncos defensive coordinator prior to the 2022 campaign. That unit certainly wasn’t a world beater this past year, but Evero earned praised for guiding what was ultimately the league’s seventh-best total defense. In fact, the coach impressed so much, he was offered an in-season promotion to interim head coach following the firing of Nathaniel Hackett. Evero decided to retain his DC title for the rest of the season, although he did garner an interview for the full-time position after the season.

The 42-year-old has now been connected to every head coaching vacancy in the NFL. Besides Denver’s vacancy, he previously interviewed with the Colts and Texans. The Panthers also recently requested permission to speak with him.

Evero joins a growing list of candidates that includes Steelers linebackers coach Brian Flores, Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, former Saints head coach Sean Payton, former Colts head coach Frank Reich, and 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans. Following yesterday’s news that the Cardinals were hiring Monti Ossenfort as their new general manager, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com writes that owner Michael Bidwell is in favor of pairing the former Patriots executive with Flores, the Patriots’ former defensive coordinator. Flores indeed has momentum here, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com.

Regardless, we should be getting some clarity on the vacancy soon. Bidwill said today that he expects to make a hire “in a matter of days,” per NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano (on Twitter). It’s uncertain if today’s developments have changed Bidwell’s timeline.

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/17/23

January 17th, 2023 at 7:27pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s reserve/futures deals:

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Falcons Request DC Interviews With Brian Flores, Al Holcomb

January 15th, 2023 at 9:30pm CST by Adam La Rose

The list of potential candidates to fill the Falcons’ defensive coordinator vacancy continues to grow. Atlanta has requested interviews with Steelers linebackers coach Brian Flores and Panthers DC Al Holcomb (Twitter links via Josina Anderson of CBS Sports and ESPN’s Adam Schefter).

Flores has received interest in multiple coaching opportunities this offseason, including a recent interview with the Browns for their DC position. A move to Cleveland would represent a step up in title relative to his current arrangement in Pittsburgh, though the 41-year-old played a more sizeable role on Mike Tomlin‘s staff than an average position coach, of course.

The Cardinals have also reached out to Flores seeking an interview for their head coaching vacancy. If he were to land that job, it would mark a quick turnaround from his firing by the Dolphins last offseason. That move ended his three-year tenure in Miami, one which has been followed by his ongoing racial discrimination suit against the NFL in general and several teams in particular. The controversy surrounding his exit – and its subsequent effect on the 2022 coaching cycle, among other things – was a key storyline around the league.

Holcomb, 50, has been an NFL staffer since 2009. His lone season as a full-time defensive coordinator came with the Cardinals in 2018, under head coach Steve Wilks. The pair were reunited in Carolina, and Holcomb spent the 2020 and ’21 campaigns serving as the Panthers’ defensive run game coordinator. Following the firing of Matt Rhule – and the subsequent departures of multiple members of his staff, coupled with Wilks taking over – Holcomb was promoted to the role of interim DC to finish the season.

This news comes after it was reported earlier today that the Panthers put in an interview request for Jets safeties coach Marquand Manuel. That meeting is likely to concern Carolina’s DC position, so Holcomb’s future will be worth monitoring as the coaching (and coordinator) cycles take shape in the coming days. He and Flores join the Packers’ Jerry Gray and the Saints’ Ryan Nielsen as targets for Atlanta to replace Dean Pees following his retirement.

Cardinals Request HC Interview With Steelers’ Brian Flores

January 13th, 2023 at 8:06am CST by Sam Robinson

After interviewing for the Browns’ defensive coordinator job, Brian Flores received his first head coaching interview request in this year’s cycle. The Cardinals want to interview the former Dolphins HC, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Although the Cards are aiming to hire their general manager first, coaching candidates are beginning to emerge in Arizona. Flores joins Sean Payton and Vance Joseph in the mix for this job.

Just more than a year ago, Flores appeared in the clear to prepare for a fourth season as Miami’s HC. But the Dolphins fired the longtime Bill Belichick lieutenant, just after he had defeated the then-playoff-bound Patriots to close a season with a winning record. That set off a seminal chain of events, which changed Flores’ reputation and the Dolphins’ plans.

The racial discrimination lawsuit Flores filed against the NFL and some of its teams is ongoing, and while several teams (the Bears, Giants, Saints and Texans) still proceeded with HC interviews during last year’s busier HC carousel, Flores ended up taking a gig as Pittsburgh’s linebackers coach. Flores’ lawsuit also was believed to scuttle the Dolphins’ plans at bringing in Payton and Tom Brady, and Ross drew a tampering suspension. While the NFL did not punish Ross as a result of Flores’ tanking allegations, his Miami exit created quite the controversy and stripped the team of first- and third-round draft picks.

Handed one of the worst rosters in recent NFL history, Flores went 5-11 with the 2019 Dolphins and led them to winning seasons in 2020 and ’21. While Flores continued to make changes at offensive coordinator and ruffled some feathers among the organization, his Miami record (24-25) stands out among Belichick assistants. Flores took the Miami job after being Belichick’s de facto DC in 2018, a season that finished with the Patriots becoming the second team in Super Bowl history to hold an opponent (the Rams) without a touchdown. During Flores’ time in New England, he coached Cardinals GM candidate Adrian Wilson. An Achilles injury prevented Wilson from playing for the Pats in 2013, but veteran Cardinals reporter Mike Jurecki notes the former safety was impressed with the then-safeties coach (Twitter link).

Considering the Dolphins’ pursuit of Payton, it is interesting both he and Flores are on the radar for the Cardinals position. Flores, 41, never figured to stay long as a Steelers position coach. While no other teams during this year’s cycle have requested a head coaching interview with him this year, more DC interest probably figures to come his way soon.

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