The Seattle Seahawks let offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb go a day after the season ended. The offense in 2024 was disappointing and became less efficient as the season grew old. Seattle was winning games in the second half of the season, but the biggest reason for that was the play of the defense.
Clearly, Seattle needs a new OC and likely one that runs the ball consistently. In the last several seasons, both with coordinators Shane Waldron and Grubb, Seattle gave up on running the ball far too quickly. Instead, Grubb's poor play design and quarterback Geno Smith's red zone interceptions doomed the team.
The potential offensive coordinator candidates below have been reported as interviewing with Seattle or about to. All could be good hires. Some seem more equal than others, however.
Ranking and tracking the reported candidates for the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator job
Klint Kubiak - New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator (best candidate)
Maybe the apple doesn't fall far from the tree here. Kubiak is the 37-year-old son of former head coach Garry, and he is the brother of Klay, the current San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator. Another brother, Klein, is a scout for the Dallas Cowboys. Maybe the Kubiak's are the football answer to those funny people in the Wayans family.
Klint has now twice been an OC in the league, so he at least has decent experience. It is difficult to get a read on how much he would want to run the ball since both times he was an OC, the teams he was on were not good, and the offenses had to throw late in games. Still, judging by Gary and Klay, Klint should have a good understanding of what it takes to have a successful run offense.
Hank Fraley - Detroit Lions offensive line coach (second-best candidate)
The hope with 47-year-old Fraley is he has learned enough from the Detroit Lions the last few years that he can transpose that knowledge over to the Seahawks. One thing is clear about Detroit, and that is it wants to run the ball. Plus, Fraley is a former NFL offensive lineman who has only coached the O-line in his career, so he should know how to get the best out of the mess Seattle had in 2024.
The iffy part is he has not called plays, so can he? No one knows until it could be too late and he is already the Seattle OC. One could safely assume that Fraley will bring a bulldog-type mentality to the Seahawks, though.
Thomas Brown - Chicago Bears interim head coach (third-best candidate)
Brown has been an offensive coordinator in each of the last two seasons but for two different teams. In both cases, the team was awful. This meant both (the Carolina Panthers in 2023 and the Chicago Bears in 2024) had to throw more than they probably would have wanted to. In other words, the lack of success might not have been Brown's fault.
In fact, he earned brownie points when he took over as OC for the Bears midway through this season after the team fired Shane Waldron. Brown then took over for head coach Matt Eberflus after he was fired later in the season. Still, no one can say that Brown has successfully proven himself in the league as a key decision-maker yet.