The Seattle Seahawks are 14-3, and the coaching staff is red-hot in the eyes of many other teams. Defensive coordinator Aden Durde, who doesn't call the defensive plays, has even gotten an interview request from the Cleveland Browns. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak might be as good as gone, though.
Five teams have requested to interview the three-time OC who comes from a family of coaches. He has only spent one year with Seattle, but he has helped a unit that was far too dependent on throwing the ball turn into one that has recently been able to successfully run the ball.
Kubiak's father, Gary, was a longtime head coach in the NFL, and his brother, Klay, is the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. Teams might think that if they hire Klint, he might also be able to bring Klay, too. Getting a piece of two successful teams would obviously be a brilliant move.
Seattle Seahawks replacement for Klint Kubiak might have just lost his job with the Miami Dolphins
But one person who could replace Klint Kubiak just lost his job with the Miami Dolphins. Mike McDaniel was fired on Thursday, and he might be viewed as a better offensive coordinator than head coach by most teams. McDaniel's Dolphins teams were, at times, outstanding offensively, but often seemed to lack overall discipline.
That wouldn't be an issue if he were hired by Mike Macdonald and the Seattle Seahawks. No question would exist who is in charge of the on-field product of the team, and that would be Macdonald. McDaniel, like Kubiak, would simply be singularly focused on making the offense run at a high level of efficiency.
McDaniel's offenses, at their best, also relied on the run quite a bit. In 2023, for instance, Miami ran the ball the 15th-most times in the NFL, but passed the ball the 20th-most. That season, the Dolphins were second in points scored and first in total yards.
The team has dealt with several injuries over the past couple of seasons, which have affected the overall product, but the scheme is still sound. McDaniel also learned from a couple of well-respected offensive-minded coaches, Kyle Shanahan (McDaniel was the OC for the 49ers in 2021, and the run-game coordinator in the four years prior), and Klint's father, Gary.
The hope, of course, is that Klint Kubiak is the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks for at least another year, but should he go, at least Mike McDaniel would share the same kind of philosophy in terms of making sure the team stays committed to running the ball quite a bit. The real difficulty is making sure fans understand the difference between Mike Macdonald and Mike McDaniel.