Steelers news: Brian Flores departure leaves job opening, 2022 re-draft, and more

Pittsburgh has a job opening after Brian Flores leaves for the Vikings, and ESPN conducts a 2022 NFL re-draft. Here’s the latest Steelers news. 

After much speculation about where Brian Flores would wind up, the former Pittsburgh Steelers senior defensive assistant ultimately settled on the defensive coordinator job with the Minnesota Vikings. Flores was said to be one of three candidates who earned a second interview with the Arizona Cardinals for their vacant head coaching job, but for some reason or another, these plans fell through.

Now that Senior Bowl week is over, we could see some quiet days around the NFL leading up to the next big offseason event. There isn’t any major news to report this morning, but here’s the latest Steelers news you should know.

Steelers news

Now that Brian Flores is officially packing his bags for Minnesota, the Steelers will have a vacant coaching position that they may or may not look to fill. In addition to being the senior defensive assistant for Pittsburgh in 2021, Flores was also listed as the linebackers coach. This was an area of expertise when he was calling the shots on defense as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2019 to 2021.

It’s possible that the Steelers could look to promote an understudy already in the facility or perhaps seek help with an outside hire. Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin will be putting their heads together in an effort to improve the defense for the 2023 season.

More Steelers news

Recently, a panel of reports at ESPN conducted a 2022 NFL re-draft where they collaboratively re-selected the players they believe each team would take in the first two rounds of the draft if they could have a do-over. Before the Pittsburgh Steelers were even on the clock in this re-draft, ESPN had both Kenny Pickett and George Pickens being selected by other teams.

Because of this, Pittsburgh was forced to go with a different position entirely — opting for cornerback, Derek Stingley Jr. The result of this hypothetical re-draft would give the Steelers a solid cornerback to pair with Cameron Sutton, but they would take another big step back on offense without their starting quarterback and most efficient wide receiver. Thankfully, we don’t have to see this scenario play out in real life.

XFL news

In some rare XFL news, the Pittsburgh Maulers have released their 10-game schedule for the upcoming 2023. They will kick things off against the New Orleans Breakers for their first game on April 16th at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and their season will run through June 17th when they close against the New Jersey Generals. The Maulers changed their color scheme this year to match the other Pittsburgh professional sports teams. Those interested can check out their full XFL schedule here.