Cardinals add Townsend to coaching staff
Feb 10, 2011, 5:41 PM | Updated: 5:46 pm
The Arizona Cardinals continued to add to their defensive coaching staff on Thursday. They also continued their propensity to add people with connections to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The team hired Deshea Townsend as their assistant defensive backs coach. He spent 13 seasons in the NFL playing 12 of them as a member of the Steelers. His career came to an end last season after playing in only eight games for the Indianapolis Colts. Before entering the NFL he was a four-year starter at Alabama and earned first-team-All-SEC honors after his junior year.
When new defensive coordinator Ray Horton was on with Sports 620 KTAR’s Gambo and Ash Wednesday, he described Townsend as a guy his players will be able to connect with.
“He played 13 years and is a gifted guy mentally,” he said. “He [will] be beneficial to the players. He just finished playing this year. Guys will be ‘Here’s a guy who played. He knows what he’s talking about. I’ll listen to him’.”
Townsend, like Horton, brings Super Bowl experience to the job. He played in Super Bowl XL and XLIII as a member of the Steelers.
