{"id":929013,"date":"2026-06-26T04:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/929013\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T04:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:15:15","slug":"steelers-hire-new-assistant-special-teams-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/929013\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Hire New Assistant Special Teams Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers have hired a new Assistant Special Teams Coach. Though not officially announced in a press release by the team, per the Steelers\u2019 website on its front office page<\/a>, Darian Thompson is listed as Pittsburgh\u2019s Special Teams Quality Control Coach.<\/p>\n

Presumably, Thompson replaces Derius Swinton II, with whom the team parted ways earlier this offseason just months after his hiring. Mike McCarthy told reporters he intended to hire a replacement<\/a>, and it appears Thompson is the answer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thompson played safety in the NFL from 2016-21, appearing in 63 games with 28 starts. He recorded 173 tackles and two interceptions. He logged nearly 800 career special teams snaps.<\/p>\n

Like many of McCarthy\u2019s hires, Thompson and McCarthy have history. Thompson played for McCarthy in Dallas from 2020-21. In 2020, he appeared in 15 games with seven starts.<\/p>\n

In 2023, McCarthy hired Thompson to serve as the team\u2019s Assistant Linebackers and Quality Control coach. In 2025 after McCarthy and the Cowboys parted ways, Thompson was named Dallas\u2019 secondary\/nickel coach.<\/p>\n

As a player, McCarthy praised Thompson\u2019s work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll say this: He definitely has lived up to his reputation,\u201d McCarthy told reporters in 2020. \u201cHis work ethic, his workload capacity is outstanding. \u2026He\u2019s having a great camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy on S Darian Thompson: \u201cI\u2019ll say this: He definitely has lived up to his reputation. His work ethic, his workload capacity is outstanding. \u2026He\u2019s having a great camp.\u201d Thompson has emerged as favorite to start in favor of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) August 25, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n

Thompson was originally a third-round pick of the New York Giants in 2016.<\/p>\n

Shortly after McCarthy\u2019s hire, we floated Thompson as a possible hire as a defensive assistant.<\/a> That didn\u2019t happen. But Thompson has found his way to Pittsburgh in a different role as a special teams assistant. He\u2019ll work alongside veteran special teams coach Danny Crossman, who replaced the outgoing Danny Smith.<\/p>\n

Swinton was reportedly let go after unspecified workplace misconduct.<\/a><\/p>\n

In past years, Pittsburgh\u2019s special teams\u2019 units were strong in some areas but weak in others. Chris Boswell has been one of the league\u2019s best kickers throughout his career while the Steelers\u2019 coverage units have normally been strong. Negatively, the team\u2019s return game, especially on kicks, have been among football\u2019s worst. Even in a difficult climate, punt production has also been lackluster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers have hired a new Assistant Special Teams Coach. Though not officially announced in a press…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[75312,7,7866,6,520,57,2360,426,691,1481],"class_list":["post-929013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-darian-thompson","tag-football","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-trending","tag-weekly"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116814474333505174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}