Dan Quinn, 2nd Seahawks interview. Why he wouldn’t exactly be more of Pete Carroll’s ways
The candidate who knows the Seahawks the best just came into town to talk about being their next head coach.
As two more NFL teams reportedly settled on new coaches, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was in the Seattle area for an in-person interview Thursday with general manager John Schneider and the Seahawks, the NFL’s television network reported.
Quinn was Seattle’s defensive coordinator for the team’s 2013 and ‘14 Super Bowl teams, in the Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” heyday.
It was the second time in a week the Seahawks and Quinn talked in the team’s coaching search to replace Pete Carroll. Seattle fired Quinn’s former boss Jan. 10.
Quinn is one of the five candidates the Seahawks scheduled this week for second interviews. The others: Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.
The Falcons hired Morris to be Atlanta’s new coach Thursday.
That was hours after Carolina chose to hire former Seahawks assistant Dave Canales as the Panthers’ new head coach, per multiple reports. Canales left Carroll’s staff in Seattle following the 2022 season to be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator this past season.
That leaves only the Washington Commanders and the Seahawks still searching for new head coaches.
Detroit Lions’ hot, young offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who interviewed with Seattle virtually last weekend, Baltimore Ravens wizard defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel, among other candidates, remain available.
The Seahawks also have interviewed Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, and are believed to be interested in talking to Macdonald and Vrabel.
The league’s television network reported Thursday Quinn will talk “early next week” to the Commanders for the third time about the Commanders’ head-coaching vacancy.
Not exactly back to Pete Carroll’s ways
Schneider has said continuing “our culture” Carroll and the GM have built the last 14 years in Seattle is a key consideration in deciding on a new coach.
Choosing Quinn would in some ways be a continuation of the ways Carroll had, in team culture and particularly on defense, in Carroll’s 14 seasons leading the franchise.
Quinn, a 53-year-old native of Morristown, New Jersey, was Carroll’s first defensive line coach for Seattle, in the 2010 season. He left the Seahawks to be the defensive coordinator and line coach at the University of Florida for 2011 and ‘12. Carroll hired him back to be the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator in 2013 and ‘14.
In those seasons, his players’-first approach, jovial persona wearing caps backwards and his relationships with those he coached mirrored Carroll’s vibe. Former Seahawks defense players including K.J. Wright and Cliff Avril have in the last week strongly backed Quinn to be Seattle’s new coach. They love him.
“There’s only one name that I’m thinking of,” Wright told CBS Sports’ Zach Gelb the day Seattle fired Carroll. “There’s no other names besides Dan Quinn. He’s the guy.”
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But Quinn would also appear to represent a departure from Carroll’s most recent ways on defense.
The ways that failed.
Before Seattle’s 2022 season Carroll switched from the simple, 4-3 defense with single-high safety coverage he’d coached since the early 1970s to a more hybrid scheme with 3-4 principles taught by long-time defensive coach Vic Fangio. Carroll promoted line coach Clint Hurtt, a disciple of Fangio’s, to be the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator.
Outside linebackers became the primary pass rushers in the new approach, not ends. There was more two-deep safety coverage, and more blitzing. The Seahawks of 2022 and ‘23 got lighter physically and in depth numbers along the defensive line, relying on edge speed and interior quickness.
The results: The Seahawks sank to 25th in total defense in 2022 and 30th overall this past season. They were 30th against the run in 2022 and 31st this past season. The pass rush was sporadic and undependable. The run defense was often horrid.
Teams that stuck with trying to run on Seattle usually romped, including Pittsburgh 46 times for 202 yards in the Seahawks’ home loss that kept the 9-8 team out of the playoffs.
In retrospect, that galling loss on New Year’s Eve in front of tens of thousands Steelers fans waving Terrible Towels throughout Seattle’s Lumen Field likely was when Allen and her right-hand man Bert Kolde decided to end Carroll’s time as the Seahawks’ coach and top football authority.
All that was after Seattle signed up to $124 million in contracts for defensive players between the ‘22 and ‘23 seasons. The Seahawks also used a generational draft pick, fifth overall, in 2023. That was Devon Witherspoon, named a finalist Thursday for NFL defensive rookie of the year.
Quinn has continued to run 4-3 as his base scheme from Seattle to with the Cowboys the last three seasons. Dallas led the NFL in pressuring quarterbacks in 2023, at a rate of 45.1%. Seattle was in the 20s in pressure percentage.
Quinn has evolved his coverage combinations from his “Legion of Boom” days with the Seahawks 10 years ago. Dallas followed the NFL trend of playing a lot of two-high safety “shell” coverage, to prevent deep pass plays.
That didn’t work for Quinn and Dallas against Green Bay in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs this month. The Packers upset the Cowboys 48-32.
Schneider interviewing Quinn is a nod toward the Seahawks possibly returning to a 4-3 base scheme seeking better run defense in 2024 and beyond.
After those back-to-back Super Bowl seasons a decade ago when Seattle had the league’s best defense, the Falcons hired Quinn to be a first-time head coach. He coached Atlanta into the Super Bowl in his second season, with Kyle Shanahan as his offensive coordinator. The Falcons fired him after an awful start to the 2020 season. He’s been running the Cowboys’ defense since before the 2021 season.
Head-coach experience matters, to a point
Of the seven candidates the Seahawks have interviewed in the past week, three have previous experience as a head coach: Quinn, Morris (Tampa Bay 2009-11) and Vrabel (Titans, 2018 until this month).
Schneider said he is balancing experience as a head coach with younger coordinators who have new ideas but would be a first-time head man.
“It’s a balance. It’s definitely a balance,” Schneider said last week. “Are you going to take a shot with somebody who has never been a head coach that hasn’t necessarily had those ups and downs when there’s some hard things to go through?
“It’s a hard job. You’re going to go through some pretty dark times. You’re going to go through some great times, too. The key is to stay right in the middle of that and not be on a roller coaster. And to know that when you win a game it doesn’t mean you have all the answers and you’re the best thing going, then, when you lose a game, you’re not the worst team in the National Football League and you don’t have any good players.
The Seahawks’ GM has ultimate and final authority on all football matters for the first time in Seattle. Carroll had that from 2010 when he and Schneider were hired in that order to turn around the franchise until last week.
Then team chair Jody Allen picked Schneider’s vision over Carroll’s for how to fix the Seahawks and particularly their 30th-ranked defense following the 2023 season, only their third not making the playoffs in the last 12 years.
“There’s something to be said to that experience, absolutely,” Schneider said. “People going through tough times with the media, or just any other pressures. “That’s a great philosophical head coaching-search question, for sure.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2024 at 2:20 PM.
