Pittsburgh Steelers assistant defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander will coach the West team’s inside linebackers, the Shrine Bowl announced. Alexander just finished his second season coaching the defensive backs along with Grady Brown in Pittsburgh, and now this gives the Steelers an opportunity to see the linebackers up close at the event.
Assistant offensive line coach Isaac Williams is coaching the offensive lineman for the American team in Mobile. The Steelers were represented by two coaches as the 2023 Senior Bowl, as secondary coach Grady Brown was a defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Denzel Martin was a defensive line coach for the game. The Steelers drafted defensive tackle Keeanu Benton from the 2023 Senior Bowl roster.
So, Alexander’s inclusion on the linebackers at the Shrine Game is notable. The linebackers that Alexander will coach include Penn State’s Curtis Jacobs, Ohio State’s Steele Chambers, Fresno State’s Levelle Bailey, Toledo’s Dallas Gant, and UCLA’s Darius Muasau.
Of those, Jacobs is someone fans will be familiar with, given that he went to Penn State. He has all the athletic tools to be a game-changer at the position. Meanwhile, Muasau at UCLA is a productive linebacker always around the football. Pittsburgh could fall in love with that type of guy after a week of working with him.
The Steelers could use a linebacker with Kwon Alexander and Cole Holcomb coming off season-ending injuries. Elandon Roberts got banged up, too. However, behind them, Mark Robinson molded into his own down the stretch, but it is still uncertain where the team stands on him as the team goes forward.
That means they could address linebacker in either free agency or the NFL Draft, but it would be no surprise to see them make a move in both. The team needs reinforcements to the room following the disaster of injuries in 2023, and Omar Khan will likely recognize that.