Deshea townsend, a former pittsburgh steelers cornerback, has joined the detroit lions as their passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach. Townsend was fired by the jaguars, but he now has a job in detroit, where he will work alongside antwaan randle-el. Townsend, a 12-year steelers veteran, has coached in the nfl since 2011. Townsend, 48, spent two seasons with the jaguars. From 2019-21, he was the chicago bears’ secondary coach under matt nagy. In 2018-19, townsend was the new york giants assistant defensive backs coach and tennessee titans defensive backs coach under dick lebeau, his old defensive coordinator, in 2016-17.
Townsend spent three years at mississippi state as a cornerbacks coach from 2013-15 and two years as an assistant defensive backs coach with the arizona cardinals from 2011-12, under his former position coach with the steelers, ray horton. In 2023, the lions did not have a defensive pass game coordinator. Despite numerous head coach interviews in his cycle, aaron glenn will continue to be the defensive coordinator in detroit. Dré bly is expected to return as a cornerbacks coach in 2024, so townsend will most likely fill in between those two fellow nfl cornerbacks.
Townsend, a 5-foot-10 native of batesville, mississippi, attended the university of alabama, where he was a three-time all-sec selection. In the 1998 nfl draft, steelers’ fourth-round pick, and the undersized cornerback came to the nfl at the right time, as passing offenses exploded and teams employing three full-time cornerbacks became a thing. Townsend played 191 games over his 13 years with the steelers, 183 of which were in the nfl. He was a member of the team’s super bowl xl and xliii championship squads.
He had his best season in 2004, when he made 15 starts, intercepted a career-high four passes, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and also racked up 56 tackles and four sacks. Despite his close links to the steelers and mike tomlin, who coached townsend for the final three years of his pittsburgh career, he never coached for the steelers. Since teryl austin was promoted from senior defensive assistant to defensive coordinator in 2022, the steelers have not had a comparable position to passing game coordinator.
