Matt Calkins: Why Seahawks' train isn't going to stop despite new OC in Brian Fleury

Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times on Feb 18, 2026

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — Despite what the Hall of Fame voters might say, the top coach in NFL history was the one who led the Patriots to six Super Bowl titles since the turn of the century.

Yes, Bill Belichick had the game's greatest quarterback in Tom Brady at his disposal, but he regularly molded new personnel into championship-winning — or at least championship-contending — juggernauts.

Perhaps the best testimony to his acumen? That pretty much all of his acclaimed coordinators failed to succeed in head-coaching roles. From Romeo Crennel to Eric Mangini to Josh McDaniels to Bill O'Brien to Matt Patricia to Brian Flores to Brian Daboll, the list goes on (and on). It seemed, more than anything, it came down to Belichick and his players.

Which brings us to the Seattle Seahawks.

As we all know, Seattle lost offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to the Raiders, who officially named him their head coach after the Super Bowl. Parting ways with Kubiak seemed inevitable given the way he guided the offense to a franchise-record 483 points with just one player — receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba — making first- or second-team All-Pro on that side of the ball.

The locker room raved about Klint, with guard Grey Zabel once saying of his play designs: I don’t know how you thought of that, but I never would have thought of that if you locked me in the film room for 2,000 hours."

So what does it mean now that he's gone? And what about the hiring of his replacement, Brian Fleury, the former 49ers run game coordinator and tight ends coach?

First of all, coordinators matter. The reason Mike Macdonald is the head coach of the Seahawks is because of how dominant he was as the DC in Baltimore. The Ravens owned Seattle's offense when they met in 2023, and Seahawks general manager John Schneider was so impressed that he hired Macdonald as soon as he had the chance.

Additionally, Seattle's inability to establish the run is what led to the firing of its 2024 OC, Ryan Grubb, which paved the way for bringing in Kubiak. Organizations aren't shortsighted when they throw millions of dollars a coordinator's way.

But the Seahawks have earned the benefit of the doubt that, regardless of who comes on, the train isn't going to stop.

Exhibit A: Schneider's personnel hits over the past two years have been impeccable.

He traded Geno Smith and DK Metcalf, much to the media's initial chagrin. He hired Macdonald. He traded for linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who just had the best year of his career by far. He traded for receiver Rashid Shaheed, who had three special-teams returns for touchdowns this season. He moved up in the draft to get defensive back Nick Emmanwori, who finished second in the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. He signed defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence.

This two-year stretch doesn't quite match that three-year run he had in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 drafts, but it's close. And though Macdonald surely had significant input in who he brought on as OC, Schneider had to sign off on it.

Exhibit B: The Seahawks' "D" is the core of this team — and that's Macdonald's baby.

That "Dark Side defense was the best in the NFL last season, allowing a league-low 17.2 points per game. The Seahawks were particularly masterful over the second half and in the playoffs — keeping the Niners to six points in the divisional round and the Patriots to 13 in the Super Bowl.

Yes, we might see some roster turnover with the likes of Riq Woolen and Coby Bryant becoming free agents. But as long as Macdonald is the architect, that side of the ball will continue to thrive for Seattle.

Exhibit C: Fleury is a disciple of the same offensive system Seattle has been running. Kubiak was the passing game coordinator under Niners coach Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, and brought many of the same principles of that team's offense to the Seahawks. And though Fleury doesn't have play-calling experience, the foundational values of the offense should be largely the same as when Kubiak was here.

All that said, I'm sure Macdonald would have loved to retain Kubiak if given the option. It just wasn't going to happen. But in the NFL, winning generally comes down to the head coach, GM and core players. The Seahawks aren't losing anything there. The rest of the league can't be happy about that.

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