Do talks to Ben Johnson, Bobby Slowik signal a true change in Seahawks’ coaching approach?
John Schneider’s first coaching search he’s been in charge of includes two hot — and young — candidates.
How young?
Half the age of Seattle’s previous coach.
The Seahawks have asked the Lions for permission to interview 37-year-old Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and the Texans to interview 36-year-old Houston offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik for Seattle’s vacant head-coaching job, Tom Pelissero from the league’s television network reported Tuesday.
Schneider said Tuesday he will begin interviews Wednesday for the job to replace Pete Carroll. The Seahawks fired Carroll, 72, last week after his 14 years as coach and top football authority.
Schneider is now that final football authority in Seattle.
He said he’s had a list of names of possible new head coaches at the ready for years, just in case Carroll decided to leave coaching and go “change the world,” as Schneider said Carroll once told him he wanted to do.
Schneider is casting a wide net in his search to replace Carroll. Offensive coordinators. Defensive coordinators. Younger. Older.
He didn’t rule out talking to college coaches.
The Seahawks are known to be about to interview Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator (and former Seahawks Super Bowl defensive coordinator) Dan Quinn, New York Giants 36-year-old offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, plus Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. Morris was the head coach for Tampa Bay from 2009-11.
“Too many is not too many,” Schneider said Tuesday.
“We are ready in everything, anybody that you can pretty much think of. I had a gentleman e-mail me the other day whose buddy is the Pop Warner coach down the road, and he’s extremely interested, too.”
Johnson is slightly more qualified than that.
Ben Johnson’s background
Johnson attracted interested around the league this time last year in that cycle of NFL head-coaching hires. Then in the 2023 season Johnson’s Lions offense was third in the league in total offense, second in passing and fifth in points. Detroit won its first division title since 1993. Saturday night the Lions won a playoff game for the first time since 1992.
That has Johnson reportedly interviewing with the Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders and Carolina Panthers for those teams’ head-coaching vacancies.
He is likely to be talking to Schneider and Seahawks by telephone or virtually online Friday afternoon or Saturday. That’s the narrow window Lions coach Dan Campbell has said he is affording Johnson and Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to speak to teams about head-coaching jobs this week while the Lions prepare for their NFC divisional playoff game against Tampa Bay on Sunday.
NFL interview rules
NFL rules approved this past fall state teams having virtual interviews this week for head-coaching jobs must complete them for those employed by the league by the conclusion of divisional playoff games Sunday.
The league recommends a team with a head-coach opening use this week’s window for virtual means to establish an initial interview, “so that it is eligible to request a second interview with a candidate of a Super Bowl team during the bye week (before the Super Bowl).”
The Super Bowl is Feb. 11. The bye week is the week of Jan. 29-Feb. 4. So, yes, the Seahawks’ search could take a while.
Beginning Monday, Jan. 22, the Seahawks may begin in-person interviews with candidates who are employed by NFL teams whose seasons are over. So if the Lions or Texans lose their playoff games this weekend, they could interview in person with the Seahawks next week.
The league’s new rules are designed to keep NFL news mainly focused on playoff games and playoff coaches on their jobs, not new head-coaching jobs.
Bobby Slowik background
Slowik is the second-hottest young offensive whiz in the NFL right now.
He is Houston’s play caller who has guided rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud through a sterling season and the Texans into this weekend’s divisional playoff round.
Slowik was a defensive assistant in his first NFL coaching job, with Washington from 2011-13, a job that began two years after he graduated from college, Michigan Tech. He moved to offense as an assistant for the 49ers in 2017. He’s been the Texans’ offensive coordinator for just one season.
The Falcons, Commanders, Panthers and Titans reportedly also have asked the Texans for permission to interview Slowik.
He, Kafka and Johnson would be a new, innovative, offensive hire in the pattern Schneider has watched Seattle’s NFC West rivals Los Angeles and San Francisco have done with Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan to transform the Rams and 49ers, respectively, past the Seahawks in the division.
A defense vs. offense head coach
The Seahawks have had a defensive-first head coach for the last 14 years. Carroll is a former defensive back. He then became a secondary coach and defensive coordinator before his first head-coaching job.
Does Schneider want more of the same, a defensive mind as head coach? Or does firing Carroll mean a truly new direction for the Seahawks, from the NFL’s oldest coach who was defense first to a Johnson, Slowik, younger, offensive-mind type?
“We’ve done a ton of study on that already. We’ve been looking at it for years,” Schneider said.
Schneider’s answer underlined the fact he also said Tuesday he now, with Carroll gone, is in charge of the offensive and defensive assistant coaches for the first time in Schneider’s 14 years as Seattle’s general manager.
“You know, special-teams coaches, especially are — you know, when you look at Coach (John) Harbaugh (a former special-teams coach leading the AFC-leading Ravens)...obviously he stands out for all the success they’ve had there in Baltimore,” Schneider said. “When you are the special-teams coach you have a really good feel for and are in the midst of who’s going to be active/inactive (for each game) all throughout the week, and is involved in the planning with the offensive staff and the defensive staff and what both groups are looking for.
“And, so, there’s a balance, too, of, OK, if you are going to hire a defensive coach and he hires a really good offensive coordinator and than that offensive coordinator is going to leave the next year (for a head-coaching job), what kind of consistency are you going to have with the quarterback? ...
“And if you a hire a great offensive coordinator, a guy that’s going to be a good play caller, where’s the strength as the defensive coordinator, and what kind of consistency and philosophy, strategy is that guy going to have. How long is he going to be able to stick around, too.
“So staff development and procurement, I think that’s extremely important — whether it’s an offensive guy, a defensive guy or special-teams guy.”
This story was originally published January 16, 2024 at 1:22 PM.
