Success in the NFL breeds change. So does losing. Winning and losing meeting at the crossroads could be bad for the Seattle Seahawks, but great for some of the coaches on the team.
Because Seattle went 14-3 this season, and head coach Mike Macdonald is likely to remain in his position for the long and foreseeable future, coaches who work for Macdonald are likely to leave quite a bit, as long as the team stays good. It would be a bit of a shock if Seattle didn't lose at least one coach this offseason.
Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has already been requested to interview for nearly every head coaching opportunity, and, possibly more surprisingly, defensive coordinator Aden Durde has interviewed for at least two as well. Kubiak has been a good OC at three stops, but Durde has only been a DC with the Seahawks.
The Atlanta Falcons clearly love what the Seattle Seahawks have been doing
Moreover, Durde doesn't decide the defensive play-calls. Mike Macdonald does. Durde is a bit like a good offensive coordinator who gets hired by a new team as the head coach but has to learn how to be a good play-caller at the same time. That isn't to say Durde cannot do it, only that he hasn't.
One team that clearly really likes what the Seattle Seahawks are doing, however, is the Atlanta Falcons. For their vacant head coaching position, Atlanta has interviewed both Kubiak and Durde. One Falcons writer recently hinted at something that can't happen in relation to the two coordinators.
Blogging Dirty, FanSided's Falcons site, tweeted on Saturday, "Interesting that they’re interested in Durde. Has coached in Atlanta before; maybe he’s a DC candidate with Kubiak?"
That would be a great scenario for the Falcons, but one that literally cannot occur. Durde going from being defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks to the same position for Atlanta would, of course, be a lateral move, and those can't happen in the NFL unless the coach has been fired or his team gives permission for him to do so.
Seattle isn't going to give that permission. Durde, who coached for the Falcons before moving to the Dallas Cowboys and then to Seattle, is a very good coach who Mike Macdonald doesn't want to let go of easily. Macdonald might do the defensive play-calls, but Durde's excellence allows Macdonald to focus on the overall team during the week.
All that said, should Klint Kubiak be hired by the Atlanta Falcons as their head coach, he could try to hire Aden Durde with the designation of defensive coordinator/associate head coach, but that wouldn't seem to be a quality move, either. Durde is already getting head coach interviews without the added "associate head coach."
Seattle Seahawks fans know how good the team can be with Klint Kubiak and Aden Durde in their current jobs. Hopefully, the situation stays the same, though both deserve promotions. Either way, it is unlikely that both will end up with the Atlanta Falcons.