The Seahawks are now one of just two teams left without coaches for 2024, and some fans and analysts are wondering what is taking so long.

First, they need to understand the NFL rules around hiring a coach: Conference title game coaches could not interview this week, and teams have to interview at least two minority candidates in person as part of their process.

The Hawks have two minority candidates remaining. Las Vegas DC Patrick Graham reportedly met with John Schneider on Tuesday, and Carolina DC Ejiro Evero was set to interview with Schneider today.

Meanwhile, it seems pretty clear that Schneider still wants to talk to at least one coach from the four remaining playoff teams. Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is the obvious one, and Baltimore DC Mike Macdonald could be on Seattle’s radar as well.

The Seahawks are not known to have met virtually with Macdonald, which would mean they would need to wait until the Ravens’ season is over. And that seems likely to be Feb. 12, after the Ravens win the Super Bowl.

Washington is the only team left competing with the Seahawks for a coach. The Commanders have been thought to be locked in on Johnson, but they also are interviewing Quinn in person for a second time.

Schneider might hope Washington prefers Quinn, leaving Johnson to decide whether he likes the idea of coaching Seattle, the NFC’s third-best franchise over the past 25 years, or staying with Detroit for another year.

Schneider previously said he was gathering information through this process, learning about the varied philosophies around the NFL. His choice of semifinalists reflects that. They collectively represent the recent coaching trees of Pete Carroll (Quinn), Bill Belichick (Graham), Andy Reid (Mike Kafka), Vic Fangio (Evero) and Sean Payton (Johnson).

Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reiterated this idea to Rich Eisen on Friday: “From everything I’ve been told, it seems like Schneider and the people in Seattle are enjoying getting to know different people and getting to hear different philosophies.”

He also shot down the thought that Quinn is already the pick.

“I’ve never gotten the sense that … they are just checking boxes (with interviews) and they’re going to hire Dan Quinn,” Pelissero said. “He could be Seattle’s next head coach, but these other guys that they’re meeting with here are all real candidates, too. And that interview process, if they’re going to see Ben Johnson again, could go into next week.”

Let’s look at where each guy comes from and how each one might or might not fit Seattle:

Quinn, the forever betting favorite to replace his one-time mentor, would continue the culture Carroll built in Seattle while hopefully bringing a more evolved, better defined defensive scheme. But would he be too close to the “stagnant” old guard for Schneider? Or is he the backup choice to Johnson? 

Graham came up under Belichick with the Patriots and worked with Steve Spagnuolo in New York. In 2023, he got the most out of a Raiders defense that had few standout players. He has the X’s and O’s, but Belichick disciples have a pretty awful track record as head coaches.  

Kafka learned under Reid before getting his shot to run an offense in New York (Seattle interviewed him for OC in 2021 and chose Shane Waldron). In two years in charge of the Giants, though, Kafka has not made much difference for a unit that has had a bad offensive line and average skill players (outside Saquon Barkley). His resume does not seem to merit a top job at this point.

Evero is a true 3-4 aficionado, coming out of the Fangio school and coaching under Wade Phillips as well. Evero has gotten kudos for putting together good defenses on bad teams in Denver and Carolina the past two seasons. Like Bobby Slowik, Houston’s one-year OC, Evero probably is a little inexperienced to merit a head coach job right now.

Johnson seems hands-down to be the best choice. He was in Miami from 2012 to 2018 and was exposed to a couple of different styles of offense, working under coach Joe Philbin, OC Mike Sherman and coach Adam Gase, among others. Sherman and Philbin come from the Bill Walsh/Mike Holmgren tree, and Gase learned under Don Coryell disciples Mike Martz in Detroit and Mike McCoy in Denver. But Lions coach Dan Campbell learned from Sean Payton, who came from the Bill Parcells tree. So Johnson knows West Coast, Air Coryell and Payton/Parcells philosophies and blends them.

Johnson is best known in Detroit for his imaginative running game. As we discussed on the “HawksZone Rundown” podcast, the Seahawks and Lions have very similar talent on offense: a resurgent veteran QB, a versatile 1-2 punch at RB, great receivers. Sure seems like Johnson would be attracted to that as a solid starting point for his first top coaching gig.

What about former Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel? Well, he’s from the Belichick school, which may not be where Schneider wants to go.

“I think that coming from Pete Carroll, you’re probably talking about pretty drastic cultural swing if you’re going to Mike Vrabel,” Pelissero told Seattle Sports 710 this week. “I think anybody who grew up in the New England culture, there’s a little bit more negative reinforcement that’s there. Whereas with Pete, it was kind of that positive reinforcement type of culture. Also, he was big on celebrating the individual. I don’t really know that that’s kind of the way that Mike Vrabel runs things. And again, that’s not saying that the Seahawks are looking for a carbon copy of Pete Carroll, but you really need to be conscientious.”

We think Schneider is waiting to interview Johnson in person and then hope he picks Seattle over Washington or staying in Detroit.

So far, the search seems to have worked out as perfectly as Schneider could have hoped. Now let’s see whether he gets the guy we think he wants (Johnson) or whether he ends up with the betting favorite (Quinn) or else makes an upset pick.