Seahawks Friday news: Two former DCs headed in opposite directions

Two former defensive coordinators for the Seattle Seahawks got new job assignments on Thursday. But while one former DC is on the rise, the other is not.

The two former DCs are Ken Norton, Jr. and Kris Richard. Norton, Jr. was correctly terminated after this past season was over. Seattle has struggled to consistently field a defense that was anywhere close to the definition of aggressive or good.

Yes, the Seahawks gave up the 11th-fewest points in the NFL this year (Seattle’s highest ranking since Norton, Jr. was named DC in 2018) but the defense also allowed opponents to stay on the field an average of 2 minutes longer per game than any other defense in the league.

Norton, Jr. appeared to not get any offers from any other NFL teams to be a coach on their teams after he was let go by Seattle. One might assume that Seattle was the only team that would have Norton, Jr. as the defensive coordinator and that experiment did not turn out well.

Seattle Seahawks fans see two former DCs go in different directions on Thursday

On Thursday, Norton, Jr. reportedly will be hired by UCLA but not even as the defensive coordinator but as the inside linebackers coach. So two things here. Norton, Jr. not only couldn’t get a DC job in the NFL this offseason, but he also might not have even gotten a college DC job. This might say more about Pete Carroll’s loyalty than Norton, Jr.’s ability.

There is nothing wrong with loyalty; It is a great trait to have. But when it hurts the team, that is not good.

To be honest, I think the Seahawks should have been a lot more loyal to Kris Richard than they were. Richard was the defensive coordinator in Seattle from 2015 through 2017. In those three years, Richard did have better players overall than what Norton, Jr. had to work with. But Richard still got his players to play in the correct spots with the right scheme.

But after a rash of late-season injuries in 2017, the Seahawks got much worse because they were playing with a bunch of backups, especially in the secondary. Seattle let Richard go after 2017 even though his defenses ranked 1st in points allowed in 2015, 3rd in 2016 and 13th in 2017 (even with all the injuries).

Since leaving Seattle, Richard has been a position coach with a couple of teams (Cowboys and Saints) but on Thursday it was reported that Richard will be promoted to co-defensive coordinator with New Orleans. The issue with this is Richard should have stayed as the DC in 2018 and beyond with the Seahawks because the team and coach would likely have been better off the last few years.