Steelers New Coach Aaron Curry Ready To Save A Struggling Middle Linebacker Room In 2023

One of the biggest struggles for the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 2022 season was their inside linebackers. Led by Devin Bush, Myles Jack, and Robert Spillane, the Steelers seemed to have one of the worst inside linebacker cores during the year. In 2023, we saw all three of these players get cut or not re-sign with the team.

These offseason losses led to additions on and off the field. Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts are now going to take the helm as the starters inside. They should create a whole new look for this defense. Another big addition to help improve these linebackers is former player turned coach, Aaron Curry.

Curry at one point was one of the biggest linebacker prospects ever. When he was going through the draft process in 2009, many people believed that he could have been the first pick in the entire draft. However, he would end up falling to the fourth pick and went to the Seattle Seahawks. Many scouts believed that he was going to be the next big thing after he was an All-American and Butkus Award winner in college. When he went into the 2009 regular season, he was given the starting job immediately and this is where things went wrong.

He would struggle for the entirety of his first season as he only recorded 61 tackles and two sacks. This would be the case for him for the rest of his career and is what led him to be traded for a seventh-round pick in 2011. After he had his NFL career not pan out the way he liked, he decided to go into the world of coaching. His first job came at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. While he was there, he would have been on staff at the same time that Steelers edge rusher Alex Highsmith was attending the university. From there, he went to the Seahawks as a defensive assistant before landing with the Steelers.

Curry will now be a part of the legendary Steelers coaching staff. His official role will be the coach of the inside linebackers. It is also his first full-time job in the NFL as a coach. With that, he is looking to bring an old-school feel to what this Steelers' defense was once like. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was able to capture Curry's thoughts on bringing this linebacker room to the standard it once was.

"I was hired to help fulfill the standards that have been set here for years." Curry would then say, "I believe there’s only one playing style when you play linebacker — that’s fast, that’s physical and that’s with attitude, regardless of what you look like or sound like. The expectation for linebacker here is to play a certain style of football."

Steelers Lost Their Pro Bowl Linebacker Ryan Shazier

Ever since the Steelers lost their Pro Bowl linebacker Ryan Shazier in 2017 to one of the worst injuries in sports history, they have not been able to find that replacement. They have tried everything from free agents to even trading up in the first round to get Bush, but everything just hasn't seemed to work. This year is no different as they completely changed the whole room. Their biggest addition will be the experience of Curry being the inside linebacker's coach. Although his career didn't go as planned, that does not mean that he is not filled with knowledge. He can also teach the younger guys how to not have them end up like him.

"You show them what’s acceptable and what’s unacceptable. Every man in the room has to see that and take that critique and learn what’s going to be acceptable for linebackers and what’s going to be unacceptable." Curry would then say, "Go look at how the Steelers have played defense around here for years. Guys have been running and hitting for years, playing physical and tough for years. Show them the men who have played in this uniform before them, and they understand what’s acceptable. If it doesn’t look like that, it’s unacceptable."

So, what do you think, Steeler Nation? Will Coach Curry change the Steelers inside linebackers? Let me know in the comments below!

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