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Grady Brown

Saints Hire Scott Linehan, Fill Out Staff

March 3rd, 2025 at 6:26pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Saints are hiring several coaches to round out Kellen Moore‘s staff, including former Rams head coach Scott Linehan, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football.

The 61-year-old Linehan has 35 years of coaching experience, including several stints as offensive coordinator at top college programs (Washington, Louisville) and several NFL teams (Vikings, Dolphins, Rams, Cowboys). He also served as the Rams’ head coach from 2006-2008. The team compiled an 11-25 record before Linehan was fired due to an 0-4 start to the 2008 season.

Linehan has spent the last five years coaching at the college level. He was LSU’s passing game coordinator in 2020 before taking offensive analyst positions at Missouri (2021-2023) and Montana (2024). Now, he’s set to join Moore’s staff, likely in a role under offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.

Linehan has plenty of familiarity with his new colleagues. He was the Lions’ offensive coordinator when they signed Moore as an undrafted rookie quarterback in 2012. Linehan recognized Moore’s potential as a coach and began mentoring him in Detroit, per Nick Triplett of NewOrleans.Football. Linehan then brought Moore with him to Dallas when he took over as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator in 2015.

Linehan was also the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Idaho in 1992 and 1993 when Nussmeier was the Vandals’ starting quarterback. Nussmeier has also served as an assistant coach on Linehan’s staff with the Rams and the Cowboys.

The Saints are also adding to their defensive staff with expected hires of Grady Brown and Robert Blanton, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. Brown is a veteran defensive backs coach who spent the last four years with the Steelers and interviewed for the Falcons’ defensive coordinator vacancy this year.

Blanton is a former NFL safety who briefly overlapped with Moore when both played for the Cowboys in 2017. He has spent the last four years as the defensive pass game coordinator and safeties coach at Miami University (Ohio).

AFC North Coaching Updates: Ravens, Browns, Steelers

February 15th, 2025 at 2:37pm CST by Ely Allen

The Ravens defense got off to a slow start last year, and though they were able to finish strong down the stretch, disappointing veteran safeties and underwhelming linebacker play contributed to the team finishing second to last in pass defense. The team hired Tyler Santucci to act as the new linebackers coach after moving on from Mark DeLeone, and they continue to make changes to defensive coordinator Zach Orr‘s coaching staff.

Assisting Santucci will be Matt Pees, who has been named assistant inside linebackers coach, per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. Pees rejoins his father, senior advisor Dean Pees, after working under him for two years in Atlanta. After three years as defensive assistant for the Falcons, the younger Pees spent 2024 as a defensive analyst (advance/special projects) for the Bears.

In the secondary, the team has moved on from secondary coach Doug Mallory, per Zrebiec. Replacing him, in a sense, will be Donald D’Alesio, according to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, who has been with the Chiefs for four seasons, the last three as safeties coach. In his three years at the job, he molded Bryan Cook and Justin Reid into starters. He’ll now work with star safety Kyle Hamilton and whomever the team brings in (or back) to play alongside him. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports that D’Alesio’s title will be defensive backs coach.

Here are a few more coaching updates from around the AFC North:

  • The Browns announced a number of changes to their coaching staff yesterday. We already were aware of the additions of tight ends coach Christian Jones and assistant defensive line coach Adam Morris, as well as the shifting of Bill Musgrave to quarterbacks coach. The new information includes the shifting of assistant special teams coach Stephen Bravo-Brown to assistant wide receivers coach and offensive assistant/run game specialist Nick Charlton to pass game specialist. Additionally, Cleveland has hired Ben Wilkerson as assistant offensive line coach after he served in the same role for the Jets last year before being let go. Joining Wilkerson as an assistant offensive line coach is Sanders Davis. Davis has spent the last six seasons at Rice University, with the last four being as offensive line coach. This will be his first NFL coaching job. Lastly, Kyle Hoke has been hired as assistant special teams coach. A 13-year veteran of collegiate coaching, Hoke will debut in the NFL, after stops at Western Michigan, Army, South Carolina, John Carroll, Texas State, Indiana State, San Diego State, and Texas A&M.
  • The Ravens aren’t the only AFC North team making changes to their secondary and linebacker coaching staffs. We learned a week ago that Gerald Alexander was being hired as the Steelers secondary coach, and we questioned the fate of sitting secondary coach Grady Brown. ESPN’s Brooke Pryor informed us this week that Brown’s contract was not renewed. The Steelers saw inside linebackers coach Aaron Curry depart for New York, and per Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, they will replace him with Scott McCurley. McCurley spent most of his coaching career in Green Bay from 2006-18 before eventually following Mike McCarthy to Dallas, where he spent the past five seasons coaching the likes of Leighton Vander Esch, Jaylon Smith, DeMarvion Overshown, and, of course, Micah Parsons.

NFL Coaching Updates: Schneider, Alexander, Berger

February 8th, 2025 at 2:29pm CST by Ely Allen

It didn’t take long for former 49ers special teams coordinator Brian Schneider to bounce back or for Commanders special teams coordinator Larry Izzo to get some new help. According to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Schneider has been hired by Washington as the team’s new assistant special teams coordinator.

Schneider was fired after three years in his role with the 49ers. He’s had two other short stints as a coordinator with the Raiders (2007-08) and Jaguars (2021), but his longest coordinator stint came from 2010 to 2020 with the Seahawks, where he worked alongside Commanders head coach Dan Quinn in 2010 and from 2013-14. The 53-year-old will now reunite with Quinn after 10 years.

Schneider fills the role left vacant by John Glenn. Glenn, who had served six seasons as the linebackers coach in Seattle before his lone season in Washington, departed in order to coach linebackers again for the Raiders.

Here are a couple other coaching updates from around the NFL:

  • The Steelers have a new defensive backs coach, per Josh Alper of NBC Sports. Gerald Alexander is returning to Pittsburgh after one year away from the team. Alexander’s first NFL job came in 2020 as the defensive backs coach for the Dolphins. He joined the Steelers as assistant defensive backs coach after being fired in Miami and left last year to retake a full defensive backs coaching job with the Raiders. With the staff turnover occurring in Las Vegas right now, Alexander returns to Pittsburgh. It seems Grady Brown is still on staff in Pittsburgh as secondary coach, but after the team finished 25th in pass defense in 2024, it’s not guaranteed he’ll stay.
  • Jon Berger has joined Aaron Glenn‘s new staff in New York. Berger will be the new game management coach for the Jets. He previously spent 35 years with the Giants in various analytics roles but has spent the past three years as an NFL employee, including holding a role as vice president of replay.

2025 NFL Offensive/Defensive Coordinator Search Tracker

January 26th, 2025 at 9:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

Last year, half the league changed up at offensive and defensive coordinator. As most HC-needy teams have now filled their open positions, the coordinator carousel has accelerated. Here is how the market looks now. When other teams make changes, they will be added to the list.

Updated 2-21-25 (1:59pm CT)

Offensive coordinators

Chicago Bears (Out: Chris Beatty)

Cleveland Browns (Out: Ken Dorsey)

Dallas Cowboys (Out: Brian Schottenheimer)

Detroit Lions (Out: Ben Johnson)

  • John Morton, pass-game coordinator (Broncos): Hired

Houston Texans (Out: Bobby Slowik)

Jacksonville Jaguars (Out: Press Taylor)

Las Vegas Raiders 

New England Patriots (Out: Alex Van Pelt)

New Orleans Saints (Out: Klint Kubiak)

New York Jets (Out: Nathaniel Hackett)

Philadelphia Eagles (Out: Kellen Moore)

  • Kevin Patullo, pass-game coordinator (Eagles): Promoted

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks (Out: Ryan Grubb)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Out: Liam Coen)

Defensive coordinators

Atlanta Falcons (Out: Jimmy Lake)

Chicago Bears (Out: Eric Washington)

Cincinnati Bengals (Out: Lou Anarumo)

Dallas Cowboys (Out: Mike Zimmer)

Detroit Lions (Out: Aaron Glenn)

  • Larry Foote, inside linebackers coach (Buccaneers): Interviewed
  • Kelvin Sheppard, linebackers coach (Lions): Promoted

Indianapolis Colts (Out: Gus Bradley)

Jacksonville Jaguars (Out: Ryan Nielsen)

  • Anthony Campanile, linebackers coach/running game coordinator (Packers): Hired
  • Jonathan Cooley, pass-game coordinator (Panthers): Interview requested
  • Patrick Graham, former defensive coordinator (Raiders): Interviewed 1/27
  • Daronte Jones, defensive pass-game coordinator (Vikings): Interviewed 1/27
  • Aubrey Pleasant, defensive pass-game coordinator (Rams): Interviewed 1/28

Las Vegas Raiders 

New England Patriots (Out: DeMarcus Covington)

  • Ryan Crow, outside linebackers coach (Dolphins): Interviewed 1/21
  • Terrell Williams, defensive line coach (Lions): Hired

New Orleans Saints (Out: Joe Woods)

New York Jets (Out: Jeff Ulbrich)

  • Chris Harris, former defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator (Titans): Interviewed 1/29
  • Steve Wilks, former defensive coordinator (49ers): To be hired

San Francisco 49ers (Out: Nick Sorensen)

Falcons Conduct DC Interview With Steelers’ Grady Brown

January 17th, 2025 at 3:25pm CST by Adam La Rose

The list of candidates for the Falcons’ defensive coordinator spot continues to grow. Steelers secondary coach Grady Brown will interview for the position today, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. The team has since announced the meeting has taken place.

Brown spent time with the Seahawks and Chiefs as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship in 2004 and ’07, respectively. That was followed by a lengthy college coaching tenure; from 2009-19, Brown worked at LSU, Southern Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisville and Old Dominion. He spent much of that time working with defensive backs.

In 2021, Brown was hired by the Steelers to serve as the team’s secondary coach. He has remained in that capacity ever since, working with a unit currently highlighted by cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Pittsburgh ranked third in the league in interceptions in 2024, keeping in line with the team’s recent success with respect to forcing turnovers. While the Steelers finished 25th against the pass this past year, Brown’s work has landed him on the radar of at least one coordinator gig.

Atlanta had Jimmy Lake in place as DC for the 2024 campaign, the first with Raheem Morris as head coach in his return to the team. Lake guided the unit to a 23rd-place finish in total and scoring defense, though, and he was dismissed after the campaign. Several candidates have received a look in the search for his replacements.

Lou Anarumo (formerly of the Bengals), Don Martindale (in place at Michigan after multiple NFL gigs), Jeff Ulbrich (who finished 2024 as interim Jets head coach), Derrick Ansley (pass game coordinator for the Packers) as well as Steve Wilks (longtime NFL coach) have already interviewed with Atlanta this week. Brown’s name is the sixth on the list of contenders for the position, although finalists will likely not be known until a second round of interviews is conducted.

Coaching Notes: Giants, Rams, Ravens

February 21st, 2021 at 5:33pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Giants have added a big name to Joe Judge’s second staff. New York has officially hired Jeremy Pruitt to be a defensive assistant, the team announced. Pruitt is coming off a high profile job after serving as the head coach at Tennessee the past three seasons. He was fired by the University last month as part of a housecleaning after an investigation found major recruiting violations took place. A former Nick Saban protege who was the defensive coordinator at Alabama before taking the Tennessee job, Pruitt has never coached in the NFL before. Judge was a special teams assistant at Alabama from 2009-11 while Pruitt was on staff, so there’s some familiarity here.

Here’s more from the coaching ranks on a quiet Sunday:

  • The Rams parted ways with highly regarded offensive line coach and run game coordinator Aaron Kromer a few days ago, and they aren’t wasting any time replacing him. Los Angeles will hire Kevin Carberry to be their new O-line coach, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). The speed with which Sean McVay made this move would seem to indicate it had been in the works for a while. Carberry was the run game coordinator at Stanford before taking this gig. As Pelissero points out, Carberry was on staff in Washington with McVay. He was Washington’s assistant O-line coach under OC McVay in 2016.
  • Those two coaches are leaving the college ranks for the pros, but we’ve also got a pro to college to pass along. Ravens running backs coach Matt Weiss is leaving to become the quarterbacks coach at Michigan, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. Weiss will go from coaching under John Harbaugh to his brother Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. As running backs coach in Baltimore the past two years, Weiss helped orchestrate one of the best ground games in the league.
  • The Steelers are undergoing a lot of change this offseason, including to Mike Tomlin’s staff. He’ll have a new secondary coach in 2021, as the team has hired Grady Brown to fill that role, they announced. He’s been the defensive coordinator at small schools McNeese State and Old Dominion in recent years. This is his first full-time coaching gig in the NFL.