Clayton: Seahawks’ D is still Carroll’s, but they’re adding new eyes

After a disappointing 7-10 season, you knew the Seahawks had to make some changes.

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Those changes came on defense. First they fired defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., and now that head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider are back from the Senior Bowl, they can lock up the contracts for their defensive changes.

I like what they are doing. They’re promoting defensive line coach Clint Hurrt to defensive coordinator. They’re bringing in Ed Donatell, who has been defensive coordinator for four teams (including Denver the past three seasons), who is great with the secondary. And they could still add Sean Desai, who was Bears DC in 2021, if he doesn’t get a coordinator job with another team.

These are excellent moves. This will give Carroll a different look at his 4-3 defense. No, he’s not switching to a 3-4, but Hurtt, Donatell and Desai have all worked together in Chicago. They know the Vic Fangio defense, so it will be interesting thing to see if there are things from that scheme that can improve this defense.

Having different sets of eyes aren’t a bad thing. Clearly fixing the secondary and pass coverage is the biggest challenge. Hurtt can work on the pass rush and the defensive tackle situation.

In general, it was a good week for the Seahawks. Even though Russell Wilson struggled in the Pro Bowl – like all the quarterbacks did – he was exceptionally great in the skills competition with is accuracy. That’s big coming off the midseason finger injury that impacted his throwing in 2021.

It only took him 3 passes to win it all 😳

📺: #ProBowlSkills Showdown on ESPN pic.twitter.com/b4Psc2qFVE

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) February 4, 2022

The Seahawks’ offseason is off to a decent start.

Bumpus: Why the defense may look different with Hurtt as DC

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