The Pittsburgh Steelers’ decision to hire former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores as a senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach attempts to address three things.
Two of them appear to be about battles of perception.
The other is about the battle to get the opposing team off the field without racking up an insane amount of rushing yards and points. That’s a battle the Steelers lost all too frequently in 2021, especially in the second half of the season.
• Hiring Flores counters the increasing public frustration from many fan and media circles that the Steelers undervalue the hiring of assistant coaches.
In terms of money, experience and outside opinion.
While it’s not yet known what Flores’ salary is, bringing him on staff with the cachet of his resume as a recent head coach is a pivot from the Steelers’ recent track record of merely promoting assistants from within the team. Or hiring coaches who were available without jobs or from the lower ranks of other teams.
An increasingly prevalent talking point from critics of coach Mike Tomlin in recent years — at least since Todd Haley wasn’t retained as offensive coordinator — is that he prefers profound autonomy of decision making. As a result, the franchise hasn’t been motivated to think outside of the box when it comes to potentially hiring assistants with a big presence and potential head coach ceilings. Flores, who was dismissed by the Miami Dolphins on Jan. 10 after two winning seasons, fits that description. The hire may indicate that the franchise is willing to think bigger when it comes to building Tomlin’s support staff.
By extension, perhaps, this will make Tomlin more willing to defuse some of the defensive play-calling responsibilities on game day. Especially now that Flores and newly promoted defensive coordinator Teryl Austin are on the coaching tree.
• The “Rooney Rule” bears the last name of team owner Art Rooney II and was essentially named after his late father, Dan, when he was still running the team back in 2003. It was originally drafted with the intent of putting legitimate standards in place for NFL franchises to follow when it came to hiring and promoting people of color in the league’s coaching ranks.
After his firing by Miami and subsequent interviews in other citieis that he deemed to be perfunctory and dismissive, Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination and violations of federal employment law.
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Prior to Lovie Smith being hired by the Houston Texans on Feb. 7, Tomlin was the only Black head coach in the league. As a result, the Rooney Rule began to be portrayed as something more of a punchline than a tool of progress. Legislation for legislation’s sake. Lacking teeth, substance and the respect of its own ownership groups that brought it into existence in the first place.
That had to irritate Rooney II to no end. Hiring Flores despite the presence of an ongoing lawsuit against the league itself, is an obvious indication of a push back from Rooney II against how he must feel his fellow owners have failed to take the rule seriously. Even if Flores isn’t being hired as a head coach.
Also, it’s his statement about importance of the nature of the rule itself. By ostensibly creating a position for Flores that combined some of the duties previously absorbed by Austin and retired coordinator Keith Butler, the Steelers are saying that even if the Rooney Rule doesn’t apply to a situation, the spirit of it should be at the forefront in the minds of front-office decision makers when it comes to diversifying coaching staffs across the league.
• Then there is the player development part.
Flores’ teams in Miami improved from 5-11 to 10-6 and 9-8 in his three seasons as Dolphins head coach. As far as overall team defense goes, Miami began at 398.7 yards allowed per game under Flores in 2019. That was 30th in the league. And their points per game allowed was 30.9, last in the league.
By 2020, the yardage output dropped to 367.9 (20th in the NFL) and the points per game total was fifth best in football at 21.1. Last year, the Dolphins were 16th at 21.9 points per game allowed and 16th in yards allowed at 337.5.
A lot of that was done with a roster whose average age was the youngest in 2019 and the second youngest in 2020.
Aside from T.J. Watt, the Steelers linebackers need help. Alex Highsmith appears to be a decently developing player at the other outside position. But there’s another level he needs to reach to become the kind of force needed opposite Watt. Especially if Watt is commanding the attention of most defenses on every snap.
At inside linebacker, Devin Bush has been a significant disappointment thus far. Joe Schobert may get released or may need some help rediscovering his game. Aside from those players, the Steelers are relying on the likes of Robert Spillane, Derrek Tuszka and Taco Charlton for contributions at the linebacker positions. Flores’ eye and independent opinions when it comes to finding new talent or extracting more production out of what currently exists could be crucial in aiding a defense that ranked 24th overall and last against the run in 2021.
When considering those three rationales for hiring Flores, which is most important? For me, it’s the last one. For a team that has failed to win a playoff game five years in a row, I would hope the front office would share that opinion.
The first two goals are achieved simply by virtue of the hire itself. But if the Steelers are as right as they think they are about Flores — and the Dolphins were as wrong as they appeared to be — all three could be accomplished.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
