Mistakes made as player help Aaron Curry develop as Steelers inside linebackers coach

The clean slate that the Pittsburgh Steelers will take into training camp at inside linebacker isn’t confined to just the players, although that group includes two new starters and two potential backups who weren’t on the roster a year ago.

It also holds true for their position coach.

Aaron Curry is entering his first year as the team’s inside linebacker coach, filling the void created when Brian Flores became defensive coordinator at Minnesota and Jerry Olsavsky’s contract wasn’t renewed.

It’s not the first time Curry, 37, has gotten a fresh start.

One of the top prospects in the 2009 NFL Draft and No. 4 overall pick, Curry was out of the NFL four years later and had to work his way back to the league in the coaching ranks. His job with the Steelers is his first with a designated position to coach after being a “defensive assistant” the past three seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

It’s because of his rise and fall as an NFL player that Curry believes he has what it takes to get the most out of the Steelers inside linebackers this year.

“Not many coaches or not many people have been able to experience the dos and do nots,” Curry said last month at minicamp. “You either just do and (can) tell what not to do. Or you do not and don’t know what to do. I’ve experienced both. I know exactly what it takes to perform at a high level, and I know exactly what the behaviors look like when people aren’t performing at the high level.

“When I see behaviors that don’t match up to what we’re trying to get done here, I’m able to nip it at the bud.”

Second-year linebacker Mark Robinson, the lone holdover from the Steelers’ 2022 inside linebacker corps, can attest that Curry is a stickler for the fundamentals.

“He does it the same every day, and you can count on him,” Robinson said. “That’s what he brings to the room. Every day he brings the details and helps us. We’re going to go over all the details and all the screws.”

When Curry was selected fourth overall by the Seahawks in 2009, he was viewed as a can’t-miss linebacker prospect. Instead, he became the biggest bust of the class. He lost his starting job in his third season in Seattle and was traded to Oakland in a cost-cutting move. He spent all but two weeks of the 2012 season on the physically unable to perform list with the Raiders. When the New York Giants cut him in the 2013 training camp, Curry was out of the NFL at age 27.

The following year, he resurfaced at Charlotte as a graduate assistant under his former college position coach, Brad Lambert. He then spent four seasons as the school’s defensive line coach and worked with Larry Ogunjobi and Alex Highsmith.

In 2019, Curry returned to the NFL and Seattle, which hired him as a coaching assistant.

“A lot of young juice,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said when asked about Curry’s attributes as a coach. “It’s interesting because he’s coached outside, he’s coached inside, kind of coached around but never really had his own room. When I watch him and how he interacts with the guys, he gives a lot of good energy.

“He’s really wide-eyed. He pushes those guys. He has all the good stuff that a good, young coach has. He’ll develop as a coach as he goes, and his players will develop as well because I think he’s doing all the right things.”

Curry joined a position group that is minus Devin Bush, Robert Spillane and Myles Jack from 2022. Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts were signed as starters, Tanner Muse came aboard as a potential situational linebacker and Bethel Park graduate Nick Kwiatkoski was signed after a tryout during minicamp.

“They’re all kind of going in together, and they’re all working together,” Austin said. “They’ll have their growing pains together and all that stuff, but we think when they come out of it, we’re going to be pretty solid there.”

Curry also sees the positional turnover as a positive, not that he wouldn’t have minded coaching the players the Steelers didn’t retain.

“When you bring people together that want to achieve the same goal, that’s the easy part,” he said. “All the guys in that room love football. They love every bit of it. They love studying it, they love playing it, they love practicing it, they love drilling it. That makes it really easy for myself.”

Just don’t expect Curry to take it easy if he sees something he doesn’t like developing in his room.

“It’s walking into the facility and being able to identify behaviors that aren’t going to allow players to be successful,” he said. “When you see it, you recognize it. Good coaches see it and address it. It’s been a really cool part of my journey that gives me a different skill set and perspective that I can address multiple players from multiple angles.”