Pittsburgh Steelers announce hiring of new wide receivers coach
The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Tuesday that the franchise has hired Frisman Jackson as the team’s new wide receivers coach.
Jackson spent the last two seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He spent the 2020 season as the receivers coach under head coach Matt Rhule, before his promotion to passing game coordinator and receivers coach in 2021.
Jackson, a native of Chicago, played six seasons in the NFL, as the undrafted rookie from Northern Illinois and Western Illinois spent the bulk of his career — five seasons — with the Cleveland Browns, from 2002-2006.
Heading into 2022, Jackson brings 14 years of coaching experience to Pittsburgh, spending almost the entirety of his early-career coaching stints in the college ranks. He first was hired by Western Illinois as a wide receivers coach in 2008, where he spent two seasons coaching, just one year after his NFL career ended. From Western Illinois, he moved on to hold the same titles at Akron, Northern Illinois, NC State and Temple; with Temple, from 2015-2016, he served as both the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.
Jackson received his first NFL assistant coaching job in 2017, when he was hired as the Tennessee Titans wide receivers coach. He spent one year in Nashville before returning to college, where he worked for two seasons at Baylor as the wide receivers coach under Matt Rhule. Rhule, however, would go on to be named the Carolina Panthers head coach, and Jackson went along with him.
Jackson spent two years with the Panthers before coming to Pittsburgh. Under Jackson’s tutelage, wide receiver DJ Moore put together 159 catches, 2,350 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in that span; his 2,350 receiving yards were the seventh-most in the NFL during that period.
Pittsburgh Steelers set to interview ESPN commentator for GM job
Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert will be stepping down following the 2022 NFL Draft. With a vacancy opening up soon, the Steelers have been eyeing a number of candidates for their GM role, and ESPN commentator Louis Riddick is now part of that list, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
“The #Steelers are scheduled to interview ESPN commentator Louis Riddick for their vacant GM job, sources say,” Rapoport tweeted. “He last worked in the NFL as the #Eagles Director of Pro Personnel in 2013.
“A former Pitt player, Riddick joins a list of GM candidates that includes Ryan Cowden, JoJo Wooden, Ed Dodds, Omar Khan, and Brandon Hunt. The hire — replacing Kevin Colbert — will go into effect after the NFL Draft.”
Riddick played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers and is a Perkasie (PA) native. He entered the NFL in 1991 after being selected in ninth round of the 1991 NFL Draft. In his NFL career, Riddick played for multiple teams across seven seasons.
Following his playing career, Riddick became a pro scout for the Washington Redskins, and he became Washington’s director of pro personnel from 2005-2007. He then joined the Philadelphia Eagles as a pro scout in 2008 before being promoted to assistant director of pro personnel in 2009. From 2010-2013, Riddick served as the Eagles director of pro personnel.
Riddick has since worked with ESPN as a football commentator. He has previously been linked to GM openings around the league, and now the Steelers are the latest team with rumored interest in Riddick.