The Steelers granted permission to two NFL teams to talk to two of their assistants for head coaching jobs and then told them both they might want to speak with them as well.

The Arizona Cardinals will talk to offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and offensive line coach Russ Grimm. The Atlanta Falcons will talk to Whisenhunt. Both teams fired their head coaches on Monday.

Whisenhunt and Grimm are considered candidates to replace Steelers coach Bill Cowher if he steps down as expected by early next week.

"There's nothing we can do about it until we have [a decision from Cowher]," Steelers president Art Rooney II said.

"I have let Whis and Russ know that if Bill does decide to hang it up, we'd like to talk to them, but that's about as far as we can take it at this point."

Picking 15th

The Steelers will have the 15th pick in the first round of the NFL draft, which will be held April 28-29.