Seahawks: Ranking the five best defensive coordinators in team history
By Lee Vowell
Number 3: Gus Bradley, Seahawks DC from 2009 through 2012
Gus Bradley was a complete failure as a head coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013 through 2016 but maybe that’s because the Jaguars are simply jinxed. They haven’t had a lot of success over this century no matter who the head coach was. But Bradley was a big part of why the Seahawks went from also-ran to the Super Bowl.
Bradley never actually made it to the Super Bowl with Seattle but he certainly would make the path led to a great defense and therefore a great team. Bradley left after the 2012 season to become the head coach in Jacksonville but he was the DC for the Seahawks from 2009 (pre-dating Pete Carroll) through 2012. It says quite a bit that Carrol decided to retain Bradley after Carroll became the head coach in 2010.
During the first two seasons under Carroll in Seattle, the team was in extreme rebuilding mode. If you think the offseason after the Seahawks traded Russell Wilson was a rebuild, you may not have been around during the 2010 offseason when it was the 2022 offseason multiplied by about ten million; Seattle made a lot of moves. Still, after ranking 25th in points allowed and 27th in yards allowed in 2010, Seattle moved to 7th in points allowed and 9th in yards allowed in 2011.
And 2011 was when Richard Sherman was a rookie and the team had not yet drafted Bobby Wagner. In 2012, Seattle moved to 1st in points allowed in the NFL and 4th in yards allowed. The defense was becoming dominant and a huge thanks for that should go to Bradley.