3 Steelers coaches the team can’t afford to lose in 2021

Karl Dunbar

The Steelers don’t have a more vital or better positional coach than Karl Dunbar. Since coming to the Steelers from Alabama, this defensive line and the pass rush has been elite. He doesn’t just focus on the defensive line though, as he has also aided in coaching the edge rushers. Since joining the Steelers, this unit hasn’t posted below 50 total sacks on the year. Considering this pass rush was struggling with Joey Porter as their coach, this sudden turn around is an amazing achievement.

While it helps to be coaching a player like T.J. Watt, it should be noted that Dunbar was here for Watt’s second season where he posted 13 sacks. Certainly, Dunbar helped with his development. As well, established players like Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt took their games to new levels under Dunbar. The talent that was already there suddenly exploded with this new coaching change.

Better yet though, he has gotten the most out of mid-level talent as well. Javon Hargrave became a stud nose tackle while he was here. Bud Dupree finally put it all together and became a force on the opposite side of Watt. Tyson Alualu just put together his best season as a pro despite him moving to nose tackle full time. Even the backups that barely play all look like potential starters. Dunbar has turned what has always been a strength of this team into an absolutely elite unit.

Right now, he should be pegged as the next defensive coordinator once the team moves on from Butler. That doesn’t seem to be happening soon unless Butler decides to leave in the earlier mentioned exodus that is likely to happen after Roethlisberger retires. If he does, the team would be wise to promote Dunbar to defensive coordinator. If not, keeping him on this roster for as long as possible will keep this unit brimming with talent. That said, he deserves his shot to be a coordinator at the pro level. Even if that opportunity isn’t with the Steelers, he has earned it.

While the Steelers have a slew of talented coordinators, these three, in particular, are ones the team has to be focused on retaining. While their league-wide interest won’t be gauged until after the Steelers are out of the playoffs or have won the Super Bowl. That said, the team can’t afford to lose one of these talented coordinators right now. They need to do whatever they can to keep these players around.