The Pittsburgh Steelers have a new face leading the defense this season. The Steelers promoted Teryl Austin to Defensive Coordinator back in February after former DC Keith Butler retired from the NFL. Austin had a chance to sit down with Steelers’ reporter Missi Matthews following the team’s Organized Team Activities (OTAs) as he spoke about Senior Defensive Assistant/ Linebackers Coach Brian Flores, Defensive Backs' Coach Grady Brown, leadership on defense, and more.
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Matthews asked, "What exactly do you want him [Flores] doing at practice? Because it seems like he's kind of bopping around and checking everything out."
"Yeah. And I think that's part of how we want to use him. When you have a guy who has, like a player, that type of skill set where he can bounce around and help you in multiple positions, I think that's important. And that's why you see him with the linebackers, you see him with the d-line, you see him with the DBs, and so he becomes an extra set of eyes and ears to help us try to reach our potential."
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Austin shares his expectations of Secondary Coach Brown:
"He better be good." Austin said in a joking manner while laughing. "No, I have all confidence in the world in Grady, it's really good. I've known Grady a long time and he did a great job last year, and it's good to watch him on his own. I try to kind of stay out of his way as much as I can because I want him to have his imprint on the secondary and his voice to be heard, and I'm there as a sounding board, as a backup for anything. But he's going to do great. As a secondary coach, he's got to remember I'm always going to have my finger in that room."
Matthews asked Austin about who is taking on a leadership role on the defensive side of the ball excluding Cam Heyward, TJ Watt, and Minkah Fitzpatrick.
"Well, I think you have those guys. They're strong leaders, and I think we have a lot of good core team guys that put the team first, and you can rely on any of those. Tyson [Alualu] is in that category. Cam Sutton is a guy that you can count on when you need things, Terrell Edmunds. Those are guys that have been in this program that, you know you can count on them to the lead in the right way. And so I think that's important. We have multiple guys. The three ones you mentioned are obviously the strongest ones that you're going to get because of, obviously how they play and the things they brought or they bring to the table. But we have a lot of good leadership throughout the group."
Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback, Cam Sutton(#20) practices at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex during the 2022 Minicamp on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. (Karl Roser/ Pittsburgh Steelers)
On the impact of the loss of Stephon Tuitt to his defense:
"Well, I think obviously when you lose a guy that is as a heck of a player as Stephon was, you, obviously it affects you some, but that's the nature of the game at some point. He wasn't going to play forever. He was going to be out of here. So I think it gives opportunities for the guys that are behind him to really step up and elevate their game. I thought Worm [Chris Wormley] last year did an outstanding job of coming in, thought he was going to be probably a backup and ended up starting, playing a lot of really good football for us and we expect that from whoever is in that room."
The Pittsburgh Steelers practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex during the 2022 Minicamp on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. (Abigail Dean/ Pittsburgh Steelers)
Check out the media session in its entirety here!
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