Source: Leslie Frazier will work for the Seahawks again with Mike Macdonald.
A source told ESPN on Friday that the Seahawks plan to hire Leslie Frazier, who used to be the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills, as an assistant head coach.
It is known that Frazier was the first assistant hired by Mike Macdonald. They worked together as coaches for the Baltimore Ravens team in the year 2016 when Massey was an assistant defensive coach and Frazier was the backfield coach. They will meet again in Seattle.
Macdonald is the NFL’s youngest coach in history at 36 years old. He was hired on Wednesday after working as Baltimore’s defensive specialist for the past two seasons. Frazier, who is 64 years old, has been a coach in the NFL for more than 20 years.
He has been the defensive coordinator to feed four different teams. From 2017 to 2022, he was the defensive coordinator for the Bills, during which time he was also the assistant head coach.
He was also the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 2011 to 2013. In 2023, he didn’t coach.
At his first news conference on Thursday, Macdonald said that he would be calling defensive plays at first, but that he would eventually give that job to a coordinator.
A source told ESPN that Zachary Orr, who used to coach linebackers for the Ravens, was in the running for that job on Macdonald’s crew before Baltimore promoted him to DC.
Frazier was also the head teacher for the Minnesota Vikings from 2011 to 2013. He started as an interim coach in 2010 and became a full-time coach in 2011.
CBS Sports HQ Top NFL Insider Josina Anderson says that the Seattle Seahawks have hired Leslie Frazier to be their assistant head coach.
Mike Macdonald was hired as coach in charge earlier than expected to replace Pete Carroll. Frazier will now work for Macdonald.
Since Macdonald is the NFL’s youngest head coach right now, it makes sense that he’d want a professional with a lot of experience on the staff. Frazier is a great example of someone with a lot of experience.
The 64-year-old has served in the NFL since 1999, when the Philadelphia Eagles hired him as their defensive backs coach. Before that, he was a cornerback in the NFL for five years, all for the Chicago Bears.
Not long ago, from 2017 to 2022, Frazier was the defensive coordinator for Buffalo. During his last three years in the league, he also had the job of assistant head coach, which he will now have in Seattle.
The Bills said last year that Frazier wasn’t going to be back in 2023. He wasn’t retiring when he left the team, so this return into the league to this role doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
During the off-season, Frazier went through interviews for the Chargers’ open head coaching job, but they hired Jim Harbaugh instead.
It was also said that the Miami Dolphins were interested in hiring him as defensive coordinator after Vic Fangio left to play for the Eagles.
Frazier told Anderson that four teams ramped up and tried to sign him before he chose to join Seattle.
Anderson said that the difference was how he felt about Macdonald. The two did work together when Frazier was the secondary coach for the Ravens in 2016.
At the time, Macdonald served as a defensive assistant. Over the last two seasons, he has worked his way up to become the defensive coordinator. Anderson was told by Frazier that Macdonald experienced his production coach.
The two defensive-minded coaches are going to try to make the Seattle defense better. In 2023, Seattle’s defense gave up the sixth-most yards per play (5.5) and was 31st in the entire league on third down, with opponents moving the chains 46.3% of the time.
The Seahawks will add Leslie Frazier as an assistant head coach. This was reported by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network or confirmed by sources to All Seahawks.
Frazier was the head coach of the Vikings and a defensive coordinator for many years in the NFL.
After a long time as the Bills’ defensive coordinator, the 64-year-old took last season off. He had worked with Macdonald before in Baltimore.
That plan probably won’t change now that Frazier is on the team, but he did say that he might be willing to give that job to someone else based on who Seattle hires.
Macdonald told reporters at his initial press conference on Thursday that he planned to call plays on defense as head coach.
This shouldn’t be a surprise since he led Baltimore’s top-three score defenses each of the last two seasons.
“For now, I’m going to be calling the plays. “Now, it depends on who the person in charge of defense was and when the position opens up. In the end, I want to coach the football team because I’m the head coach,” Macdonald said.
“Right now, the best way that we can win in what I think is for me to call the decisions, and then when it becomes obvious that a different player is ready to go and we see it the same way, then we’ll make that alteration.”