Seahawks could reportedly be focusing on this candidate for offensive coordinator

As the NFL coaching carousel picked up steam Wednesday, so did the rumor mill about where the Seahawks’ search for a new offensive coordinator may be headed.

The Seahawks were still thought to have three main contenders for the job of replacing the fired Ryan Grubb — Detroit Lions offensive-line coach Hank Fraley, New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and Grant Udinski, the assistant offensive coordinator and assistant quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings.

All three reportedly had two interviews with the Seahawks, including one in-person. Fraley’s in-person interview was the most recent, reportedly occurring on Tuesday.

The Seahawks reportedly had one interview each with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and Thomas Brown, who ended last season as the interim coach of the Chicago Bears.

ESPN reported that the Seahawks are in compliance with the Rooney Rule, which stipulates teams must interview two minority candidates for coordinator positions, which means a hire can occur at any time.

The Seahawks have been thought willing to be deliberate in their search, something they couldn’t be last year when they had to wait to hire Mike Macdonald as head coach on Jan. 31 and fill out the OC job with a limited pool.

Wednesday brought some signs that the search could be coming to a close, in part because of moves made elsewhere around the league.

Ben Johnson, who was the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, was officially introduced as the head coach of the Bears. There was a thought that Johnson might try to bring Fraley with him. 

A report from The Chicago Tribune on Wednesday stated that it “does not sound like” Fraley would be coming to Chicago with Johnson, in part because Johnson “isn’t going to raid” Dan Campbell’s staff in Detroit.

Later in the day, Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn was named head coach of the New York Jets. That brought speculation whether he might bring any members of the Lions’ staff with him. Fraley did not appear in lists of potential OCs.

That appeared to winnow the field of potential competition for Fraley, if he is the Seahawks’ choice.

A report Wednesday from SI.com indicated that Fraley could, indeed, be their top target, saying that the Seahawks are “really intrigued” with the idea of bringing in Fraley and adding a pass-game coordinator. 

The report named Scott Turner, who ended the 2024 season as the interim offensive coordinator for the Raiders after joining them in 2023 as the pass-game coordinator, as one possibility. 

There were no reports as of Wednesday afternoon of Turner having interviewed with the Seahawks.

Fraley, 47, has no offensive coordinator experience, working almost exclusively as an offensive-line coach and playing center in the NFL from 2000-10.

Turner, 42, is the son of longtime NFL coach Norv Turner and was the offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders from 2020-22.

In a pairing with someone such as Turner, Fraley would be expected to oversee the offense and the running game and call plays but with another coach coordinating the passing game.

Such a structure is not uncommon. 

During much of Pete Carroll’s tenure as Seahawks coach, Tom Cable was the offensive-line coach while also coordinating the running game, while Darrell Bevell was the offensive coordinator and called plays and oversaw the passing game.

The Seahawks had Jake Peetz serving as the passing game coordinator this year, working alongside Grubb.

One person in favor of the Seahawks bringing on Fraley is former Seahawk tight end Luke Willson, who played for the Lions in 2018 when Fraley was hired as the assistant offensive-line coach.

“Hank Fraley is the man,” Willson wrote on the social media platform X. “I hope the Seahawks get him as their new OC. This would be an elite hire.”

While the national speculation Wednesday focusing on Fraley, there was nothing indicating that Kubiak or Udinski were out of the picture.

Kubiak was mentioned as a possibility to join Glenn with the Jets, including by the NFL Network on Wednesday afternoon.

A report from SI.com stated that Glenn could be more focused on three other possible OCs — Rams pass-game coordinator Nick Caley, Texans QBs coach Jerrod Johnson and Vikings QBs coach Josh McCown

There remained the chance Kubiak could stay in New Orleans if interim head coach Darren Rizzi is named the permanent head coach.

Udinski interviewed for the Patriots’ OC job on Monday, but New England made it official Wednesday that the team will hire Josh McDaniels as its OC to pair with head coach Mike Vrabel. Udinski has had no other known interviews.