The 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff continued to take shape with the formal announcement Monday that Denzel Martin was promoted to outside linebackers coach and Jason Brooks was hired as defensive quality control coach.
Martin has been assisting in coaching the Steelers’ outside linebackers the past four seasons but, in effect, has been that position group’s leader in that time since the departure of Joey Porter from the “outside linebackers coach” role in 2019. Since Porter, the Steelers have not had full-time coach with that official title.
The departure of senior defensive assistant Brian Flores to take a job as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings indirectly led to an opening higher on the hierarchy of the Steelers’ defensive staff. Aaron Curry was hired last month as inside linebackers coach, replacing Jerry Olsavsky.
Martin joined the Steelers in 2016 as a scouting assistant and moved to coaching in 2018. He’d met Mike Tomlin while working as a graduate assistant at Missouri — his alma mater — in 2015.
Brooks was with the rival Baltimore Ravens the past two seasons and also from 2009-12, in addition to a short stint with the Miami Dolphins and jobs in the college ranks.
Brooks’ father, Clarence, worked for four NFL teams and three colleges during a 41-year career as an assistant coach. He died in 2016 while on the Ravens’ staff.
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