Seahawks: How hire of Karl Scott could help the defense

The Seattle Seahawks are making all the defensive coaching changes they can to try to improve the defense in 2022. In 2021 under then-defensive coordinator Ken Norton, Jr., Seattle ranked 28th in yards allowed and 25th in turnovers created.

While many may think head coach Pete Carroll is not going outside his coaching tree to find Norton, Jr. and others’ replacements, they should look again. It would appear that Carroll is looking to hire coaches from the Vic Fangio coaching tree instead. Presumed new DC Clint Hurtt and recently hired senior defensive assistant Ed Donatell (thought rumors today say Donatell might be the leader to take the DC job with the Vikings) were both coaches under Fangio at some point in time.

There would be nothing wrong with that either. Fangio may not have been a successful head coach but he was a great defensive coordinator for most of two decades in the NFL. As head coach in Denver this year, the Broncos went 7-10 but not because the defense was bad; The offense was terrible. In a division where Denver faced quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Derek Carr and Justin Herbert, Denver was still 6th overall in QBT-allowed (85.0).

How DB coach Karl Scott could help the Seahawks

This is where Karl Scott comes in and is slightly different. He has been named as a possibility to be the next secondary coach. Scott hasn’t coached under Vic Fangio or Pete Carroll. In fact, Scott is closer to the Bill Belichick tree than Fangio or Carroll as Scott coached under Nick Saban at Alabama from 2018 to 2020 and Saban used to coach under Belichick.

But Scott’s defensive back principles aligned perfectly with what a Fangio disciple would want. Scott’s secondaries (he coached Trevon Diggs and Patrick Surtain II at Alabama) are aggressive and create turnovers. Scott was the DB coach at Minnesota in 2021 and the Vikings were 11th in the league in interceptions with 16 (Seattle was 23rd with 11).

The Vikings were 15th in the NFL in QBR-allowed (91.4 – Seattle was 20th at 93.6) which isn’t terrible considering Minnesota suffered several injuries in the secondary last year and there was a constant shuffling of players.

Karl Scott would be a great fit in Clint Hurtt’s scheme because his mentality of what a secondary should do goes well with an overall more aggressive defense. Scott also knows how to get his corners to play more press coverage and Seattle has simply laid off too much in recent years. Scott coming to Seattle would be a big win.