SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

Seahawks OC Search: Insiders weigh in on each candidate

Jan 14, 2025, 1:46 PM | Updated: 2:11 pm

The search for the next Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator is underway.

How far are Seattle Seahawks from becoming a true contender? An insider’s view

Three names have emerged as candidates since the Seahawks moved on from offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb: New Orleans offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Chicago interim head coach Thomas Brown and Detroit offensive line coach Hank Fraley.

The team reportedly interviewed Brown on Friday, Fraley on Saturday and was set to meet with Kubiak on Tuesday.

What is there to know about each candidate? Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Tuesday had conversations with media members who have covered the coaches to get a better feel for each candidate.

Seattle Seahawks OC candidates

Klint Kubiak

Kubiak spent this past season as the play caller for the Saints after holding various offensive assistant roles for three teams over the past decade.

Kubiak, the son of former NFL head coach and offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak (who won Super Bowl 50 as the head coach of the Broncos), began his NFL coaching career as an offensive quality control coach with the Minnesota Vikings in 2013.

He got his first shot at calling plays midway through the 2022 season when he was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for a Denver Broncos squad that featured former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.

The Broncos averaged 14.4 points per game in seven games with Kubiak calling the plays.

“It went well initially, and then it didn’t go so well,” said Denver9 News Broncos reporter Mike Klis said.

Kubiak was hired the passing game coordinator for San Francisco under touted offensive mind Kyle Shanahan the following season. Kubiak’s dad also coached under Shanahan’s Super Bowl-winning father, Mike Shanahan, in Denver before becoming a head coach.

After taking over as New Orleans’ offensive coordinator this season, the Saints got off to a roaring start and averaged 45.5 points over their first two games. But they finished the season 24th in scoring, 21st in total yards, 14th in rushing yards and 23rd in passing yards.

“He’s proven to be a real good quarterbacks coach. His record is inconsistent as an offensive coordinator, which includes this year with the New Orleans Saints,” Klis said. “I thought he was gangbusters the first two games, and then it fell apart for him there.”

Klis still sees the 37-year-old Kubiak as a good candidate for the job in Seattle.

“I like the offensive system. It still works in the NFL,” he said. “He would have his dad, I think, still in his ear for consultation. So I think he would be a good choice.”

As for the ability to commit to the run game, something the Seahawks struggled with throughout the season, Klis feels Kubiak is up for the task.

“He definitely can. In fact, I think he prefers to,” Klis said. “The one problem that they had here was – I don’t know if they didn’t have quite the tight ends, or the right offensive linemen, or didn’t have the running backs – the running game just didn’t work here, and he had to get out of it and go to the pass more than he wanted to when he was the offensive coordinator here.”

Thomas Brown

Brown had quite the whirlwind of a season as he started the year as the Bears’ passing game coordinator, took over as the offensive coordinator after Chicago fired former Seahawks play caller Shane Waldron and less than three weeks later became the interim head coach following the firing of Matt Eberflus.

Brown, who was the offensive coordinator in Carolina in 2023, hasn’t had much success in his short time as a play caller in the NFL, but he’s also been in two tough situations with struggling teams attempting to build around rookie quarterbacks.

“I really hope he gets a chance to be someone’s OC. I don’t know if it will happen here (in Chicago) depending on who the coach is, but I think that he made some headway with (Bears quarterback) Caleb Williams,” said Laurence Holmes of Spiegel and Holmes on Chicago’s 670 The Score. “The reason I believe that is that things were going sideways with Shane Waldron. I had never heard of a team not having a first 15 or first 20, some sort of list of scripted plays, and apparently that’s what was going on with the Bears. I think that put Caleb in a bad spot early on in the season. When Brown got the job, he started to work through some of that mess.”

Holmes noted that one of Brown’s strengths is the way he connects with players.

“Everyone that interacted with him over the last couple of months says that this guy holds players accountable, he is passionate and it comes across when he is talking to players,” Holmes said.

Brown spent three seasons as an offensive assistant under Sean McVay with the Rams.

“Sean McVay thinks so highly of him that he’s been pushing, trying to elevate this guy. That says something to me,” Holmes said. “Whether it’s Sean McVay or (Minnesota head coach) Kevin O’Connell, both of those guys have gone out of their way to tell you that Thomas Brown knows what he’s doing. I really think he needs a situation that works where he can develop his own offense. What happened to him in Carolina wasn’t fair, what’s happened with him here in Chicago has not been fair. I think that this guy is a future head coach in the league, but he needs some time to be able to do his own thing with an offense. That’s why I think he should be considered.”

As for what the 38-year-old Brown can do to revive the Seahawks’ run game, Holmes was unsure but noted his experience as a former NFL running back.

“(The Bears’) run game took some steps back. Now obviously you’re taking (quarterback) Justin Fields out of the run game with him moving on to Pittsburgh, and that was a big deal,” Holmes said. “They didn’t always look as stout running between the tackles with D’Andre Swift, but that’s not really what D’Andre Swift does.

“There were so many issues with the way the roster was constructed that I’d be lying to you if I said I knew exactly how Thomas Brown would make a run game go, but he is a former running back. So even if there are things that didn’t go well for the Bears, I think he has a better idea than maybe what the Bears showed.”

Hank Fraley

Fraley is the only member of the trio whose team is still playing and the only one without any experience calling plays in the NFL. However, he’s currently working under one of the league’s top play callers in Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who has been linked to a number of head coaching positions across the league.

The 47-year-old Fraley had a 10-year pro career as an offensive lineman and has spent the past 13 seasons as an offensive line coach at the college and pro levels, with the past five coming with the Lions.

“I’ve known Hank since he played for the Eagles. I was playing for Washington,” said Jon Jansen, a former NFL offensive lineman and co-host of The Stoney and Jansen Show on Detroit’s 97.1 The Ticket. “… He’s a very cerebral guy when talking about the game of football. He’s open to new techniques, new ideas, new schemes. He’s always talking about different things.”

Jansen pointed out that while Fraley isn’t calling plays for the Lions, he plays an important role in the game planning.

“All of these different guys, their thoughts (and) their ideas go into making the Lions’ offense as dynamic as it is right now,” Jansen said. “And you can’t be just a good position coach, you’ve got to be a good offensive mind to be on Dan Campbell’s staff. That’s what Hank is, and I love his temperament. He’s not a guy that’s going to fly off the handle, he’s not going to be overly emotional. It’s all about fixing it in the moment if issues arise.

“As much as I would hate to lose him as an offensive line coach, we all know his destiny is much higher than just a position coach.”

Jansen characterized the offense Lions run as a “lineman’s dream.”

“In regards to the offense, I would love to play in this offense because it’s a run-first offense. They run the ball more than they throw the ball,” Jansen said. “And even when they throw the ball, it’s a play-action scheme. So you still get to fire off the ball.”

The big question about Fraley is how he will be able to connect with a quarterback.

“He’s played in front of some really good quarterbacks. It all comes down to protection, and if you have time to throw the ball, you can make a lot of quarterbacks look good,” Jansen said. “In terms of technique, in terms of development, you hire a good quarterbacks coach that can come in there and do those things. You know what you’re good at and you know what you need to delegate, and I think that’s exactly where Hank’s at.”

Listen to the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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