During the Seattle Seahawks coaching search after the team transitioned away from long-term head coach Pete Carroll in early January, it became clear the team wanted a defensive-minded coach. This was against the trend of many other teams, especially ones in the NFC West, as they wanted a coach with offensive experience. Seattle's decision was narrowed down to a group that included Mike Macdonald and Dan Quinn.
Macdonald was the bigger risk, but might still offer a bigger reward. If hired, he would be the youngest head coach in the league, and he had never been a head coach at any level before. No one knew for sure if he could be anything else than a very good defensive coordinator.
Quinn had most recently been the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, a position he had held with the Seahawks when the team went to back-to-back Super Bowls in 2013 and 2014, but he had been the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons from 2015 through midway through 2020. He was fired after Week 5 that season, but he led the Falcons to the Super Bowl in 2016.
Dan Quinn might have made for the better head coaching hire for the Seattle Seahawks than Mike Macdonald
There was a perception from many 12s that Quinn would not be good for Seattle. He had "not worked out" with Atlanta, so why would he be successful for the Seahawks? That is a falsehood, though. Sure, Quinn was eventually terminated by Atlanta, but he got the team to two playoff appearances, and the team only began to erode when cap issues entered and players began to age.
As good as Macdonald had been as a DC, Quinn had been just as good. He always made the defenses he coached better and those units were ultra-aggressive. Hiring Macdonald or Quinn should have improved Seattle's struggling defense. It hasn't. While Quinn's experience helped him adapt quickly to being the new head coach with the Washington Commanders, Macdonald has struggled in his first season.
No one really expected Quinn and the Commanders to start 7-2 with a new head coach and a rookie quarterback. Sure, Jayden Daniels has been terrific in Washington in his first season, but Geno Smith has been pretty good overall in 2024. Plus, Smith has not been the real issue for a skidding Seattle team that sits at 4-5. The defense has been the problem in most losses.
The real relative difference between Quinn and Macdonald is how much better Washington's defense is under Quinn, while Seattle is no better under Macdonald. Both head coaches were not going to directly oversee their offenses as they were going to hire offensive coordinators to do that. The struggle of the Seahawks' defense under Macdonald is glaring compared to the improved defense in Washington under Quinn.
In 2023, Washington was dead last in pressure percentage at 16.8. This year, even while not having much high-end talent, the team is 10th (26.4 percent). Washington misses, on average, 5.1 tackles a game and Seattle misses an average of 6.9 in 2024.
Plus, discipline has been a bigger issue under Macdonald than it was under Carroll. Seattle averages a league-high 8.3 penalties a game in 2024 and averaged just 6.5 penalties in 2023. Meanwhile, the Commanders average 6.0 penalties a game, the 11th-lowest in the league. Maybe Quinn's experience is paying off there as well.
Some Seahawks, such as Leonard Williams, have also complained about team morale once the team begins to fall behind in games. Some players do not believe the team can come back. The same would not be said of a Commanders team that is believing in itself more with every passing week.
Perhaps the biggest indictment of the Seahawks' personnel decisions this offseason is that Seattle has already traded away inside linebacker Jerome Baker as he was having a bad season. Fellow free agent signee Tyrel Dodson has been solid but not great. Meanwhile, former Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner left in free agency and is playing once again like an All-Pro with his new team, the Commanders.
The logic was that Wagner would not be a good fit in Macdonald's system. That was never proven, and Seattle would probably be better off having tried to re-sign Wagner.
Maybe this is all just a one-year mistake. Macdonald could get his team to be much better in his second season. Maybe Quinn starts well with Washington and then fades as he did in Atlanta. The truth is, however, Dan Quinn likely would have been the smarter, though less exciting, hire by Seattle this past offseason, and the Seahawks would be a better team than they are right now. The same might hold well into the future, too.