Does Thomas Brown Make Sense for Steelers OC?

The Pittsburgh Steelers interviewed former Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown for their open offensive coordinator job on Wednesday. It was the first confirmed interview from the team themselves about who they will target. But Brown has some similarities and other key differences from Kliff Kingsbury and Zac Robinson, who the Steelers will reportedly interview and have interest in during the search.

Brown’s lone year in Carolina was a disaster. You look at the metrics; they had the worst offense in the NFL by about any metric. But the odd thing about his tenure there was how much head coach Frank Reich and Brown tossed play-calling duties back and forth.

Reich started calling the plays for the season but then, on October 16th, announced he would hand those over to Brown. However, just a month later, almost to the day, Reich took those duties back. But he would be fired a week later, leaving Brown the play-caller for the rest of the season. Even when he did call the plays, the results still were not great.

Over the eight games he was the play-caller, the Panthers averaged just 13 points per game. But it was not necessarily his offense as much as it was Reich’s, and the lack of cohesive play-calling is already a disaster for a rookie playcaller with a rookie quarterback.

So, let’s peel back the curtain a bit more. Carolina’s personnel was poor. Their receiving corps, running back room, and offensive line fell below the line. But not scoring any points over the final two weeks is rough. Brown is highly thought of in NFL circles, so much so that he has received offensive coordinator and head coach interviews all offseason.

That’s the powerful allure of someone from the Sean McVay tree. Brown went from running backs coach to assistant head coach and tight ends coach before accepting the job in Carolina. He started coaching in 2011 after finishing a brief three-season NFL career as a running back.

Now, Brown has yet to call a successful offense and does not come from a quarterback background like Tomlin said he preferred. But some of those guidelines are not completely put in place given the wide net that has seemingly been cast out into the open market by the organization.

For a reason, he is thought of highly in NFL circles, but that does not always mean someone is becoming a good coach. But one disaster year in one of the most dysfunctional organizations in sports is also not an indictment. Brown has pros and cons to him that are outwardly apparent, while the results are poor. But that’s almost too surface-level for someone who was this highly thought of before the season in an offensive system that was not his own.

How should you feel about Brown? I don’t have a definitive answer. The picture on Brown is so incomplete. But there should be real skepticism, considering how much of a disaster his first year in Carolina was at the jump. But that’s what these interviews are for throughout the process.