Seahawks should hire Kris Richard back as secondary coach

The Seattle Seahawks should re-hire Kris Richard to help with the defense.

I am not saying the Seattle Seahawks should re-hire Kris Richard as their defensive coordinator (OK, let’s be honest; They should). But Richard has been a coaching free agent since the Dallas Cowboys stupidly let him go in January 2020. I can’t tell you why. Just as I cannot tell you why the Cowboys are awful. And I cannot tell you why the Seahawks defense in 2020 is awful too.

Oh, wait. Yes, I can. The current defensive coaching staff of the Seahawks seems to leave little to detail like how to tackle? Or how to maintain discipline on gap techniques? Or the difference between Cover 1 and Cover 3?

The Jets said Jamal Adams might get bored in the Seahawks scheme. He might not be bored but he might be confused by what Ken Norton, Jr. wants to do. Under Kris Richard, Adams would have a clearer plan.

Players might get injured which affects how a team plays but if the entire defensive group isn’t sure who has who where and if any player happens to stumble into the vicinity of an offensive player who has the ball, then that Seahawk doesn’t seem to understand how to tackle said player.

This is somewhat a player problem but it is by far a greater coaching problem. A defense needs to be relatively simple. A coach needs to teach a player’s assignment in any defensive play call and then join that together with the entire defensive unit.

The 2013 and 2014 Seahawks weren’t simply great because of the talent on defense. Seattle was great because each player understood how they fit into the defensive scheme overall and which players were where. Under current defensive coordinator Ken Norton, Jr., Seattle’s defensive players seem to not know what the overall mission issue. That’s bad coaching.

So bring in former Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard. He was let go by the Dallas Cowboys in January (and by the way, Dallas is awful defensively in 2020 and 2-7 overall). Richard is a great secondary coach and was taught how to do so by Seattle coach Pete Carroll. Seattle’s defensive backs under Richard may have given up some yards based on the scheme but once a player caught a pass, they were tackled fairly immediately.

Seahawks current secondary coach

This does not happen under Norton, Jr.’s watch. By the way, 12s. Do you know the name Nick Sorensen? He’s the current Seahawks secondary coach. I think Ken Norton, Jr. needs to be fired but he won’t be in the middle of the season. But Sorensen could be if Seattle hired Richard. Richard is better than Sorensen.

And if all works out, Ken Norton, Jr. will find a way to lose his defensive in-game play calls to Richard. Richard was the guy who in a preseason game in 2017 called a blitz late in the game with Seattle way up because the other team had the audacity to try to score. Norton, Jr. is the guy who allows opposing offense to score in real-game action. The Seahawks need to bring back Kris Richard right now because he is good with the details.