The Steelers surpassed expectations this season, making the playoffs despite scoring the fifth-least number of points in the NFL and the eighth-least amount of yards. The reason for that may well be due to the work done by second-year defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and his defensive unit. Seemingly happy with what they’ve seen so far, Pittsburgh is working to finalize a new two-year deal with Austin, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. 
Austin has been a defensive coordinator in the NFL for seven of the last 10 years. Before earning a coordinator position, Austin spent 23 years at the college level or coaching defensive backs for the Seahawks, Cardinals, and Ravens.
The Lions were the first team to give Austin a chance calling defensive plays, and he rewarded them in his first year with a top-three scoring defense that allowed the second-least number of yards in the NFL. His next three years in Detroit saw the team come back down to earth a bit, resulting in middling results for the defense. Austin left Detroit following the firing of then-head coach Jim Caldwell and accepted the defensive coordinator job in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, 2018 would be his only year with the Bengals as the team would finish 30th in points allowed while giving up the most yards in the NFL that season.
Austin took a step back in 2019, joining the Steelers under the title of senior defensive assistant & secondary coach. After three years in that role, Pittsburgh promoted Austin to defensive coordinator, once again giving him a chance to call plays. In 2022, the Steelers finished 10th in points allowed and 14th in yards allowed. This year, a bend-but-don’t-break mentality kept Pittsburgh in the playoff hunt as the defense finished sixth in points allowed while finishing 21st in yards allowed.
With his contract renewed, Austin will be under contract through the 2025 season. Many considered head coach Mike Tomlin‘s job to be in danger after a sixth straight year of failing to reach the Divisional Round of the playoffs, but for now, Tomlin’s job appears safe, so Austin’s will be, too.
Bottom third of the league in yards allowed and yards per play allowed. Top third in Points allowed and RZ Scoring Defense… Just not sure what to make of this, were they good or were they lucky? How much of the yardage allowed was the defense being on the field an atrocious amount of time due to our inept offense?
It would be very hard to say the defensive staff isn’t performing well here.
One way to look at this: Every other team in their division was in the top half of points scored and they were fifth to last. They were sixth in fewest points allowed, even though they didn’t get to face the worst offense in the division (their own).
Another way to look at it: In the last four years, they’ve spent three top 100 picks on defensive players, none of them first rounders, and two of them were rookies this year–both already contributing well. So it would seem they’re doing a good job of both scheming and developing players on that side of the ball.
I think this season alone should have given fans a real appreciation of the linebacker group, inside and out. Watt is incredible, Highsmith a good complement. And before they all went down with serious injuries, Holcomb, Kwan and Roberts were good additions. You wonder if they can come back at full health
But the D-line here still gives up big chunks of yardage on the ground and doesn’t pressure QB’s enough. And the secondary is still highly suspect.
I get bringing back Austin. Before Rudolph came in, his defense likely won half of their games. But they need to plug in a lot of holes this offseason
In a perfect world I’d love to see a D-lineman be their first pick. Benton is the real deal but Hayward hit an age wall (injuries didn’t help) it seemed this year. The rest are nice depth pieces but I’m not an Ogunjobi fan and getting another blue chip lineman will help make the rest of the defense look better. Hope it’s through the draft so they can allocate more funds towards the offensive side of the ball as in a QB that should hopefully beat out Pickett
Agree 100%. And your comment about funds for a proven QB is right on target, too
Just seems they’re going to be hitched to Pickett this year and they’re likely to place lifelong back-ups behind him to soothe his ego. Guess we’ll see
With so many offensive weapons, you’d think they’d look around at a couple veterans but that would mean admitting a draft mistake
According to reports, the QB position will be wide open. Of course the only competitor for sure now is Pickett. We’ll see. I personally haven’t given up on him as many have.
How many marquee free agent signings has the Steelers ever made?
I’m guessing they give him one more year with an OC not named Canada.