It’s been a busy past two weeks for Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider.
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With offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak departing to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach after Seattle’s Super Bowl win, Macdonald and Schneider got right back to work in finding Kubiak’s replacement and building out their coaching staff for 2026. The Seahawks hired longtime San Francisco 49ers assistant Brian Fleury as their next OC and have made three other assistant coach hires, which offsets two assistants they lost to Kubiak’s new staff in Las Vegas.
So, where does that leave Seattle’s coaching staff now?
When speaking to reporters at the NFL scouting combine on Wednesday, Macdonald said he doesn’t anticipate any additional coaching staff departures from what’s already been reported, according to ESPN’s Brady Henderson. However, there might still be some shuffling of roles and titles.
Here’s a recap of three coaches the Seahawks lost, the four they added and some of the top assistants who appear set to return.
Departures
• Klint Kubiak (offensive coordinator): After a success-filled season in Seattle, Kubiak was named the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach and is bringing two assistants along with him.
• Andrew Janocko (quarterbacks coach): Janocko has been named the Raiders’ offensive coordinator.
• Rick Dennison (run game coordinator/senior offensive advisor): Dennison has been named the Raiders’ offensive line coach.
Additions
• Brian Fleury (offensive coordinator): The Seahawks were expected to promote one of four reported internal candidates to replace Kubiak as their OC, but they landed on Fleury after he impressed them during the interview process. Fleury has spent the past 13 seasons working in a wide variety of NFL assistant and analyst roles on both sides of the ball. He spent the past seven seasons as an assistant on Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers staff, including last season as the 49ers’ run game coordinator and tight ends coach.
• Zachary Orr (inside linebackers coach): Orr, who spent the past two seasons as the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator, will be Seattle’s inside linebackers coach, according to ESPN. Orr was Baltimore’s inside linebackers coach from 2022-23, back when Macdonald was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator. Then after Macdonald was named Seattle’s head coach in January 2024, Orr replaced Macdonald as Baltimore’s DC.
• Thomas Hammock (running backs coach/senior offensive assistant): Hammock, who spent the past seven seasons as Northern Illinois University’s head coach, will be Seattle’s running backs coach/senior offensive assistant, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Prior to coaching at NIU, Hammock spent five years as the running backs coach in Baltimore, where he coached alongside Macdonald.
• Daniel Stern (role TBA): Stern spent the past 10 seasons on John Harbaugh’s Ravens staff, including the past two seasons as Baltimore’s director of football strategy/assistant quarterbacks coach. According to ESPN Giants reporter Jordan Raanan, Stern was one of Harbaugh’s “right-hand men” in Baltimore. Macdonald said last week that Stern’s role will “evolve as we go,” but that he’ll be a “really significant part of our offensive staff.”
Key assistants expected to return
Based on Macdonald’s comments Wednesday at the NFL combine, it appears the six assistants below are all expected to return to Seattle’s staff.
• Aden Durde (defensive coordinator): Durde interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons’ and Cleveland Browns’ head coaching jobs last month, but is expected to return for his third season as Macdonald’s top defensive assistant.
• Jay Harbaugh (special teams coach): Retaining Harbaugh would be a massive win. Under Harbaugh this past season, the Seahawks’ special teams were a major difference-maker in all facets. According to Stathead, Seattle became one of just 10 teams in the Super Bowl with at least five special teams touchdowns in a season, including the playoffs.
• Leslie Frazier (assistant head coach): The 66-year-old Frazier was touted numerous times for having an invaluable impact on Seattle’s team and coaching staff. Frazier, a former NFL head coach who was a star cornerback on the legendary 1985 Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears’ defense, brings a wealth of knowledge with more than a quarter-century of NFL coaching experience.
• John Benton (offensive line coach): Benton’s expected return may be as important as any. With more than two decades of NFL offensive line coaching experience, Benton oversaw Seattle’s best O-line in years. The Seahawks allowed just 27 sacks during the regular season, which was their lowest total in two decades and their third-lowest in franchise history. Prior to this year, Seattle had surrendered 40-plus sacks in 11 of the previous 12 seasons, including a whopping 54 sacks in 2024.
• Justin Outten (run game coordinator): Outten, who spent last season as Seattle’s run game specialist/assistant offensive line coach, has been promoted to run game coordinator, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Outten also took over the team’s running back coach duties in mid-December after Kennedy Polamalu took a leave of absence for personal reasons. The Seahawks’ rushing attack took off shortly afterward, and general manager John Schneider praised Outten for his role in that during a conversation with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob last week. Outten reportedly was one of Seattle’s in-house OC candidates.
• Jake Peetz (passing game coordinator): Peetz, another one of Seattle’s reported in-house OC candidates, is expected to return for his third season on the staff.
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