Report: Steelers to Interview Former Panthers OC Thomas Brown

The Pittsburgh Steelers are interviewing former Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown for their open offensive coordinator job, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Brown was a first-time offensive coordinator this past season with the Panthers after spending three seasons under Sean McVay in Los Angeles.

This is the second reported interview from the McVay tree after Rams passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Zac Robinson had a request put in by Pittsburgh to interview him. 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.

Brown won a Super Bowl with the Rams, too, but his first-year results in Carolina were not sterling. For one, he did not even call the plays to start off the season. Head coach Frank Reich did, but eventually, after tossing it back and forth, Brown would call the plays by the end of the season. The offense was a disaster for first-year quarterback Bryce Young. But since it was such a chaotic environment, that does leave room for questions.

Regardless of that, teams have already talked to Brown this offseason. Under new head coach Brian Callahan, the Tennessee Titans seem interested in Brown. That is rumored to be a potential landing spot for Brown, though the Steelers are coming in and could shake that up. But even before that, he landed two head coaching interviews with them.

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.

Brown is another example of a guy not checking all of the boxes on the sheet Tomlin wanted, but he could fit some of the criteria that make him attractive.