“If you’re stagnant in this league, you’re behind.” – John Schneider

John Schneider thought the Seahawks had gotten “stagnant” under Pete Carroll and he clearly is looking for an innovative coach who is on the cutting edge of today’s NFL. That leads us to believe he wants a young offensive mind in charge, as so many successful teams have acquired in recent years.

Five of the last six Super Bowls have been won by teams led by former offensive coordinators: Andy Reid (twice), Sean McVay, Bruce Arians, Doug Pederson.

Young OCs turned coaches have led their teams to the Super Bowl and lost: Zac Taylor in Cincinnati, Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia, Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco.

Schneider sure seems to want a guy like that.

“Where’s the game going?” he said in his presser the other day. “Fourteen years is a long time for one coach to be in a spot. … Marty Schottenheimer would always tell me one coach cannot stay in one spot for more than 10 years. … If you’re stagnant in this league, you are behind.”

The top offensive minds up for jobs in this cycle are Detroit’s Ben Johnson (age 37), Houston’s Bobby Slowik (36) and Miami’s Frank Smith (42). Schneider reportedly is talking to all three, along with old Seahawks favorite Dan Quinn, former Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel and four defensive coordinators.

Schneider talked about not wanting to go through a rotating cast of offensive coordinators, referencing Alex Smith’s rocky start in the NFL when Schneider’s Packers hired Mike McCarthy away from San Francisco and then Smith lost Norv Turner the next year, too.

“What kind of consistency are you going to have with the quarterback?” Schneider asked.

That all seems to hint big at two things: Schneider plans to draft a QB for the new coach (either in 2024 or 2025), and he wants to make sure that young QB has a stable coaching situation — likely through the head coach.

Among the six coaching gigs still open, the Chargers seem set on Jim Harbaugh and the Falcons on Bill Belichick. Johnson, the Lions’ OC, seems to be the favorite for the Washington job.

That seemingly leaves the top five remaining candidates — Quinn, Vrabel, Slowik, Smith and Baltimore DC Mike Macdonald as the top options for Tennessee, Carolina and Seattle. (Vrabel obviously is not a candidate in Tennessee, so he appears to have just two options.)

The Hawks would seem to be the top choice for any of those coaches – Schneider said many people have called, showing the great reputation the Seahawks have around the NFL. So, if Seattle can’t get Johnson – the star of this coaching cycle – Schneider seemingly will have his choice of two vet coaches and three young coaching wizzes.

Slowik, while very short on experience (just one season as an OC in Houston), has all of the pedigree Schneider could want. He comes from the vaunted Shanahan coaching tree (Mike and Kyle), his dad was a longtime NFL defensive coach (and is still a DC in the CFL) and Schneider knows his dad from their time together in Green Bay (2002-04). Young Slowik also knows the 49ers’ style of defense, having coached with DeMeco Ryans; he probably would tap someone from that coaching tree (in Houston, San Francisco or New York, where former 49ers DC Robert Saleh is the coach).

If Schneider does not want to go that young, maybe the well-traveled and highly respected Smith would be an option. Smith has worked with Sean Payton, John Fox, Jon Gruden, Brandon Staley and Mike McDaniel (Shanahan tree). That’s a ton of experience with different schemes and styles – and a lot of connections. Smith could hire Staley, former Rams DC recently fired as Chargers coach, as his DC.

While he was involved in the hiring of McCarthy in Green Bay in 2006, this is really Schneider’s first crack at hiring his own coach by himself.  He is looking for a guy to continue a winning tradition that started back in 1999, when Holmgren came from Green Bay to Seattle (Schneider joined him for one year in 2000 before returning to the Packers).

In the last 25 years under Holmgren and Pete Carroll (with one bad Jim Mora year in between), the Seahawks have won 228 games – third most in the NFC behind Green Bay (248) and Philadelphia (233), which just overtook Seattle in the past two seasons.

Schneider thinks he has assembled enough talent (thanks partly to the Russell Wilson trade) to help a new coach make the franchise, which went 9-8 in 2023 despite a terrible defense, playoff competitive quickly. That core includes a solid veteran QB, one of the league’s best receiver trios, talented running backs, a franchise left tackle, good cornerbacks and pass rushers, and a couple good D-linemen.

“I think it’s a young, talented team that feels like it’s right on the cusp,” Schneider said. “I think it’s a great core. I think we’re a very attractive job because of that.”