With the departure of long-time head coach Pete Carroll, who played a distinct role in the team’s roster decisions over the years, Seahawks general manager John Schneider has been handed the reins for personnel in the new regime moving forward. Schneider now also holds a new title. Previously the general manager and executive vice president, Schneider’s new role sees him take on the president of football operations title for 2024, per Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times.
According to Schneider, his new role “largely signifies (that the) coaching staff now reports to him.” The staff used to report to Carroll, but Schneider reportedly had it put into his contract six or seven years ago that he would inherit that responsibility when Carroll’s tenure ended.
While he will now function as their supervisor, Schneider claims that his role in the process of hiring assistant coaches is “very much like support.” He says that the staff will be of new head coach Mike Macdonald‘s making.
Here are a few other staff updates from the Emerald City:
- The Seahawks interviewed Raiders offensive assistant Fred Walker for their vacant quarterbacks coaching job, according to Jonathan Jones of NFL on CBS. In several previous college coaching jobs, Walker’s focus was often on quarterbacks, working with such passers as former Duke Blue Devil Daniel Jones and former Mississippi State star Dak Prescott. He has spent two years in Las Vegas and is looking to earn his first NFL position coaching gig.
- Also on offense, Seattle is making the move to hire Frisman Jackson as their new wide receivers coach, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. This will be Jackson’s fourth NFL receivers job. While his first NFL coaching season in Tennessee saw an uninspired group of Rishard Matthews, Eric Decker, and Corey Davis put up pedestrian numbers, Jackson followed that up with a 2020 season in Carolina that saw D.J. Moore and Robbie Chosen reach the 1,000-yard mark with Curtis Samuel (851 yards) not far behind. He spent the past two years mentoring Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, and company in Pittsburgh.
- Finally, the Seahawks are set to add veteran NFL running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu to the same position in Macdonald’s new staff, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Polamalu has a strong history of building running back tandems over his time in the NFL. After first breaking into the league with the Browns in 2004, Polamalu spent five years coaching up a legendary tandem of Fred Taylor–Maurice Jones-Drew in Jacksonville. After returning to the college ranks for a spell, Polamalu came back to the NFL to build the Dalvin Cook–Alexander Mattison tandem in Minnesota. He’s spent the last two years coaching Josh Jacobs and the Raiders’ backs in Vegas but was not retained when Antonio Pierce took over as the official head coach following his interim tenure.
I saw Polamalu and thought Troy Polamalu was gonna coach the Seahawks.
Tha would be quite a hiring!