RENTON, Wash. — It was a defensive-centric head coach that brought the Seattle Seahawks their only Super Bowl title.
The Seahawks are hoping a newer — albeit much younger — version can return them to the elite of the NFL after hiring Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald as their new head coach on Wednesday.
Macdonald, 36, arrives in Seattle as the youngest head coach in the league and half the age of the man he's replacing — Pete Carroll who was let go after 14 seasons in charge during the most successful run in franchise history.
Macdonald spent the past two years running Baltimore’s defense, including this past season when the Ravens finished with the NFL’s best regular-season record and reached the AFC championship game before losing to Kansas City.
This will be the first head coaching position at any level for Macdonald. But he’s been surrounded by successful coaches as he moved up the ranks, starting with an extended run on the staff of John Harbaugh in Baltimore before spending a season on now-Chargers’ coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff in college at Michigan.
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Seattle made it clear that Macdonald was one of its top candidates when it didn’t move forward on a hire prior to the conference championship games. Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn seemed a clear front-runner because of his past connections to Seattle. But the longer the Seahawks went without moving ahead with Quinn, the more it became obvious there were other options being considered.
Macdonald and Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson were the last two interviewed by the Seahawks before the final decision was made.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun, we’re going to work our tails off, and it’s going to be an incredible ride,” Macdonald told the team's website. "We’re going to be here for a long time, and we’re going to win a lot of football games.”
AP source: Patriots hire Spring as special teams coordinator
The New England Patriots have an agreement in place with Los Angeles Rams assistant Jeremy Springer to become their special teams coordinator, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the team has yet to announce the hire. NFL Network first reported the agreement.
Springer, 34, is coming off his second season with the Rams, for whom he served as a special teams assistant. Before that, he spent eight years coaching in college, making stops at UTEP, Texas A&M, Arizona and Marshall. He served as special teams coordinator for the Aggies, Wildcats and Thundering Herd.
Springer will now be tasked with improving a Patriots special teams unit that ranked 28th in the NFL this season in defense-adjusted value over average, or DVOA, an advanced metrics used to measure efficiency. The Patriots’ special teams ranked last by that statistic in 2022.
BRIEFLY
PANTHERS: Carolina has added to its front office, hiring former Kansas City Chiefs contract negotiator Brandt Tilis as its new executive vice president of football operations. Tilis will serve under new general manager and president of football operations Dan Morgan, who’ll lead the executive management team. Tilis has spent 14 years with the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs, including the past three as vice president of football operations.
PACKERS: Jeff Hafley is leaving his job as Boston College’s head coach to become Green Bay’s defensive coordinator. The Packers fired Joe Barry last week. Hafley went 22-26 at Boston College in four seasons. That includes a 7-6 mark this past season with a Fenway Bowl victory over SMU.
