The Tennessee Titans reportedly made an addition to their defensive staff on Friday with the hiring of former Atlanta Falcons defensive backs coach, Steve Jackson.
Jackson comes over from the Falcons after two seasons. He first served as a senior offensive assistant before being moved to defensive backs coach in 2023. In all, Jackson has over two decades of NFL coaching experience.
The name might sound familiar to you because Jackson has already had multiple stints with the Oilers/Titans, dating back to 1991.
We’ll go over that and more as we take a look at three things to know about the Titans’ new defensive backs coach.
Multiple stints with the franchise
As a player, Jackson was a third-round pick of the Houston Oilers in the 1991 NFL draft and spent his entire nine-year career with the franchise. He played the last snaps of his career in Super Bowl XXXIV with the Titans.
Steve Jackson is returning to #Titans as DB coach per @TDavenport_NFL.
Jackson ranks as one of the Top 10 most accountable players in the franchise’s TEN era. Love him.
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) February 2, 2024
After making stops as a coach with the Buffalo Bills, Washington and Detroit Lions, Jackson returned to Nashville as the team’s assistant defensive backs coach in 2016, a title he held for two seasons.
From there, he went on to serve as the assistant defensive backs coach for the New York Jets (2018-19) and the secondary coach for the Cincinnati Bengals (2020-21) before landing with the Falcons, a team that was coached by ex-Titans offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith.
Dennard Wilson and Brian Callahan connections
Jackson has connections to both defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson and head coach Brian Callahan.
Jackson crossed paths with Wilson for one season during his aforementioned stop in New York, where he was the assistant defensive backs coach in 2019 when Wilson served as passing-game coordinator and defensive backs coach.
Callahan was on the same staff as Jackson for two seasons when the latter was the Bengals’ secondary coach from 2020-21.
Success with the Falcons
Prior to Jackson taking over the role of secondary coach in Atlanta, the Falcons sported the No. 25 pass defense in the NFL in 2022. In 2023, Jackson’s unit improved to No. 8.
Good coaches. Steven Jackson did a good job in Atlanta with the DBs and Frank Bush was a great developer in the middle of the defense. https://t.co/7ETeUgnZca
— 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒌 🐦⬛🏈🇬🇪🇺🇦🇱🇻 (@CarasikS) February 2, 2024
Atlanta saw another strong season from cornerback A.J. Terrell, and safety Jessie Bates was elite in his first year with the Falcons.
But what’s more impressive was the ascensions of seventh-round rookie safety DeMarcco Hellams and fourth-round rookie cornerback Clark Phillips III to starting jobs on Jackson’s watch.
