Jason Cole of the National Football Post reports that the Steelers have expressed interest in Carolina Panthers assistant offensive line coach Ray Brown to replace Jack Bicknell Jr. The Steelers fired Bicknell yesterday, and appear to be moving quickly to find his replacement. It doesn’t surprise me that the team is interested in Brown, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they seek interviews with a couple other assistant coaches. Chris Morgan of the Redskins comes to mind.  I’d be surprised if the team hasn’t contacted recently fired Texans O-line coach John Benton.

The Panthers have declined to let Brown interview for the time being, but are expected to grant the Steelers permission when the playoffs are over. The interest in Brown implies that the team has not changed it’s offensive line philosophy, but that perhaps Bicknell wasn’t a good fit here, or that there were other unknown differences that led to Bicknell’s firing.

I say this because the Panthers run outside zone blocking quite often, so Ray Brown would be quite familiar with it.

Brown was an offensive linemen for 20 years before retiring, and has coached with the Bills, 49ers, and most recently the Carolina Panthers. He was the offensive line coach for the 49ers in 2010, and took the assistant offensive line coaching position for the Panthers in 2011. Brown was also Sean Kugler’s assistant at Buffalo, before taking the coaching position in San Francisco.