12th Man Rising
FanSided

Three coaches who should replace Ken Norton Jr as Seahawks defensive coordinator

By Lee Vowell

Sep 13, 2020; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn (left) and Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll greet each other after the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 13, 2020; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn (left) and Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll greet each other after the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 4
Next

Ken Norton, Jr. needs to be fired by the Seahawks. He has never been a successful defensive coordinator in any of the seven seasons he has been one in the NFL. Norton, Jr. is probably a good guy and a good linebackers coach. But he should not be a defensive coordinator in the NFL.

We all got fooled a bit by the second half of last season, didn’t we? Seattle’s defense seemed to have made a turnaround after the Seahawks traded for Carlos Dunlap in mid-year and Jamal Adams finally got healthy. But the truth is that Seattle was playing a bunch of games against bad quarterbacks that would have made every defense look good.

The other thing that helped make the defense appear better than it was is that Seattle’s offense was suddenly pretty terrible after starting the year the best in the NFL. The attention turned towards then-offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and Russell Wilson’s turnovers.

But to start 2021, Seattle’s defense looks just as bad as it did to start 2020 and this is with a healthy Jamal Adams and Carlos Dunlap. Seattle’s defense was supposed to be based on a great pass rush with more speed and also hope that the questionable cornerback group would be OK. This might have worked with a different DC but with Norton, Jr. it isn’t going to.

Seahawks should fire Ken Norton, Jr. and replace him with one of these three coaches

Seattle is 24th in yards-allowed-per-rush (4.5), 12th-worst in quarterback pressure percentage (23.4) and 26th in QBR-allowed (108.4). While overall Seattle’s defense wasn’t that good last year, all the numbers listed in the previous sentence are worse than 2020.

Pete Carroll is the head coach, of course, but also the Vice President of Football Operations so he has control over the coaching staff. If Norton, Jr. gets fired during the season (he won’t because Carroll doesn’t work that way) then maybe Carroll should take over the defense. But no matter what, there will be no excuse for bringing Norton, Jr. back in 2022 and here are three candidates who should replace him.

Home/Seattle Seahawks News