{"id":440408,"date":"2026-01-31T07:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T07:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440408\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T07:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T07:12:07","slug":"report-steelers-dbs-coach-gerald-alexander-could-leave-for-vikings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/440408\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Steelers DBs Coach Gerald Alexander Could Leave For Vikings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although Mike McCarthy seemed intent on retaining Pittsburgh Steelers defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander, that isn\u2019t guaranteed to happen. Per ESPN\u2019s Brooke Pryor,<\/a> Alexander could opt to leave the team for Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Tucked in an article recapping Patrick Graham\u2019s official hire as defensive coordinator,<\/a> Pryor notes Alexander may go elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcCarthy could also target secondary coach Gerald Alexander as a coach to retain, but he\u2019s expected to have interest in joining Brian Flores\u2019 defensive staff in Minnesota, sources told ESPN,\u201d Pryor writes.<\/p>\n

After losing out to McCarthy as a finalist as Steelers\u2019 head coach, Brian Flores returned to Minnesota as defensive coordinator. The Vikings made a top offer to retain him<\/a>, a deal he signed even before McCarthy was officially hired.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what role Alexander could have in Minnesota. If it\u2019s a pure lateral move to defensive backs coach, and if Alexander is under contract (a reasonable thought given that he was hired in 2025 on what\u2019s typically a two-year deal), the Steelers would be able to block the move. Rules of a promotion could be tricky based on Alexander\u2019s exact role and title, if that\u2019s blockable or not, though Pittsburgh could still allow him to exit.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh first hired Alexander in 2022 as an assistant defensive backs coach. He left in 2024 to join the Las Vegas Raiders, working with Graham. A year later, Alexander came back to the Steelers as the team\u2019s defensive backs coach.<\/p>\n

His 2025 season was a successful one. Joey Porter Jr. reduced his penalties and bettered his play into a high-end cover corner. Special teamer James Pierre turned in a career year<\/a> that could see him paid well this offseason by Pittsburgh or on the open market. Brandin Echols was a free agent gem who punched above his contract. And while Jalen Ramsey didn\u2019t prove to be the lockdown corner the Steelers hoped, he still made a respectable mid-season transition to safety. Alexander deserves credit for all of that, and it was reasonable for McCarthy to want to retain him.<\/p>\n

An answer on Alexander\u2019s status should be known relatively soon. Despite firing GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah today,<\/a> Kevin O\u2019Connell remains head coach and is in control of the staff. A new general manager won\u2019t be hired until after the draft. If Alexander leaves, that decision is likely to be made within a week.<\/p>\n

Should Alexander depart for Minnesota, McCarthy will have to add defensive backs coach to his long list of coaching hires, though he\u2019s already filled many key positions. Perhaps Joe Whitt Jr., fired as Washington\u2019s defensive coordinator earlier this month, would be a candidate. McCarthy and Whitt worked together in Green Bay for over a decade. Perhaps Jason Simmons, a reported hire, could also wear the title after serving as the Washington Commanders\u2019 defensive pass game coordinator the last two years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although Mike McCarthy seemed intent on retaining Pittsburgh Steelers defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander, that isn\u2019t guaranteed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[71437,28987,207631,140989,349,99],"class_list":["post-440408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-brian-flores","tag-brooke-pryor","tag-gerald-alexander","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}