Aaron Curry Opens Door to Bring Young Seahawks LB to Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers made a change at inside linebacker coach, announcing Aaron Curry would be joining their staff. Once a top-five draft pick coming out of Wake Forest, Curry joined the Seattle coaching staff in 2019 with his role growing over time.
He has mostly been credited with working with their edge rushers in the last couple of seasons. However, the Steelers threw us a curveball by announcing Curry as the team's inside linebackers coach after informing the media that long-time assistant Jerry Olavsky would not return next season.
Now that we know his specific role, it's worth taking a look at the current talent in the room and what it could potentially look like in his first season in charge.
Devin Bush and Robert Spillane are both set to become unrestricted free agents when the league year opens. A breakup between Bush and the Steelers feels practically guaranteed at this point, but Spillane could certainly return seeing as he was essentially the Steelers' top player at the position down the stretch.
Veteran Myles Jack, one of the team's bigger free agent signings last season, carries an $11.25 million cap hit in 2023 making his return a bit murky. Jack helped stabilize the position from where it was in 2022 but offered little splash plays, something you'd expect from a player with that type of cap hit.
It's fair to wonder if Curry will go lobby for a familiar face to potentially join him in his new environment next season. The familiar face that I'm referring to is Seahawks linebacker Cody Barton, whose rookie contract is expiring and is currently slated to hit free agency in a matter of weeks.
Barton is a former third-round draft pick from Utah back in 2019, but it wasn't until this past season that he finally broke through, earning a starting job on defense alongside Jordyn Brooks. Barton certainly looked the part of a starting off-ball linebacker coming out of college, testing particularly well in the movement drills while also throwing up an absurd 30 reps on the bench press.
From a numbers perspective, Barton certainly provided more splash than either of the Steelers' opening-day starters at the position. He accumulated two sacks, picked off two passes, and broke up five more last season. Perhaps even more noteworthy, he was credited with 47 stops on the year, tied for 25th most league-wide at his position.
Just for comparison's sake, Myles Jack and Devin Bush combined for a total of 55 throughout the year. The Steelers, led by their inside linebackers, were collectively a reliable tackling team last season and Barton proved solid in that regard as well, with misses on just 7.1% of his tackling attempts.
Barton is another name in an otherwise pretty good free agent inside linebacker class, flushed with different skill sets and archetypes. Gauging his potential value on the open market is tricky given he just has one year of starting experience, but it would be very surprising if he ended up netting a significant contract.
It'll be interesting to see if he's able to land a guaranteed starting gig or whether he's willing to come in and compete for the job, which would likely be the case in Pittsburgh if both Jack and Spillane are back in the fold.
Curry is undoubtedly familiar with him as a person and as a player, having worked in close proximity with him throughout their time in Seattle. We'll have to wait and see if this potential tandem hooks up for another round in 2023.
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