One rumored name for Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald's defensive coordinator is electric

Easy to forget due to former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll's positive approach to life and football is that Seattle seemed to lack an ability to be aggressive both mentally and physically the last few seasons. Defensively, Seattle simply laid back far too much and allowed passes to be unnecessarily to be completely and first downs to be too easily picked up. Under new head coach Mike Macdonald, that is a lot less likely to happen.

But Macdonald is not coming to Seattle simply to be the new defensive coordinator. He will be tasked with running the entire on-field operation of the team. Macdonald's most important decisions at the beginning of his head coaching career is not which players to keep but which coordinators and assistant coaches to hire.

We do not know what Macdonald will do offensively. He is a defensive coach who has never had to lead that group. He might rely heavily on general manager John Schneider to help make the decision of who the offensive coordinator will be. But Macdonald probably has a good idea of which defensive coaches know the game well and which are ready to be promoted.

Could Zachary Orr be the Seattle Seahawks next defensive coordinator?

According to ESPN's Brady Henderson, one name Macdonald could think of hiring as DC for the Seahawks is current Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker coach Zachary Orr. Orr and Macdonald worked together in Baltimore for the last couple of seasons. Macdonald led the defense while Orr worked under him so there is already a trust built between the two coaches.

Orr is only 31 years old. He was a productive linebacker for the Ravens between 2014 and 2016, but he retired early due to a spinal cord injury. In his final season, Orr was named Second-Team All-Pro. He played well and he has coached well.

Orr was the outside linebackers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 and helped Josh Allen have a breakout season. With Baltimore, Orr has gotten his players to be great in coverage - something the Seahawks have struggled with in the linebacker group - while also excelling against the run and being fantastic tacklers. Again, that is something Seattle has struggled with.

Orr might be a nearly perfect fit as DC under Macdonald. There is a mutual understand between Macdonald and Orr so there would be no communication concerns. Plus, Orr has proven to be a great coach on his own accord.

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