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

Kris Richard

Kris Richard has been mistreated in the NFL getting his only chance of being a defensive coordinator with Seattle so far. He was the defensive coordinator for Seattle from 2015 through 2017 and was a very good one. My hopes of his returning to Seattle under Pete Carroll are not great. But without a doubt, of the coaches on this list, Richard needs to be the next DC with the Seahawks.

First, he has the talent to do so. The 2017 season had the Seattle defense finish 13th in scoring but this was after injuries cut short the seasons of Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor. How would anyone truly expect Richard to succeed when so much talent was lost in such a short amount of time? Still, 13th in the NFL is a pretty amazing accomplishment considering all the injuries.

After being let go by the Seahawks after the 2017 season (one of the biggest mistakes Pete Carroll has made), Richard became the defensive backs coach with Dallas. In 2017 Dallas ranked 27th in QBR-allowed. After Richard joined Dallas, the Cowboys ranked 22nd in QBR-allowed in 2018 and 20th in 2019. The secondary was getting better even though the overall talent was not. But Dallas let Richard go after the 2019 season when they brought in a new head coach.

Richard didn’t coach in the 2020 season but was hired by the Saints for this season to be their defensive backs coach. New Orleans currently has the third-best QBR-allowed in the NFL.

One of the main good things about Richard is his players appear to like him a lot and want to play hard for him. But Richard also coached under Carroll and Gus Bradley and Quinn and knows how to run a defense and proved that in his time as DC of the Seahawks. Norton, Jr. needs to be let go and Richard brought back in 2022.