‘Let ‘Er Rip’: Brian Fleury Inspiring Confidence Entering Seahawks’ - and NFL - Play-Calling Debut
RENTON, Wash. - Now in his third season as head coach for the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Macdonald still has the same butterflies going into the season opener as he did when he first received the opportunity to call plays at Michigan five years ago.
Whether it can be chalked up as nerves, anxiety, excitement, or a cocktail of all three, Macdonald sees those emotions all as a natural part of the equation being a football coach and kicking off a new season. From that standpoint, as Brian Fleury prepares to call plays in a regular season game for the first time, he expects the Seahawks new offensive coordinator to experience an array of such feelings when they take on the Patriots in a Super Bowl LX rematch on Wednesday.
Not seeing that blend of fervor and apprehension as necessarily a negative thing, leaning on his own play calling debut as guidance, Macdonald would advise Fleury to embrace those emotions as they come, be confident in the process and trust the work he has put in leading up to this point, and quickly remind himself that at the end of the day, Wednesday is just another football game.
“Like with the rest of our players, [it’s about] trusting our training, trusting the preparation,” Macdonald said about Fleury’s impending debut as coordinator prior to Saturday’s practice. “I still do that. You’re always going to feel there’s whatever; is it anxiety, is it excitement? Those things are natural, it means you care, it means it matters to you. I hope our players feel that. When you do have those feelings, understand like, ‘Hey, we’re still playing a football game that we’ve prepared for and take a deep breath and go let ‘er rip and let’s rock and roll.’”
When the Seahawks chose Fleury to succeed Klint Kubiak, who departed to become the Raiders new head coach immediately after winning the Super Bowl in February, skeptics pointed to his lack of experience as a major red flag. Though he had been on Kyle Shanahan’s staff since 2020, including five seasons as a tight end coach and most recently a run game coordinator in 2025, he had never called a single offensive play at any level at the time of the hire.
But Fleury brings unique qualifications to the position for Seattle, as he served as a defensive coordinator early in his coaching career at Sacred Heart, an FCS Division I program. He broke into the NFL coaching ranks as a defensive coach, including two seasons coaching linebackers with the Browns and one season as a quality control coach with the 49ers before transitioning to the offensive side of the ball.
Being a defensive minded coach, Macdonald certainly was drawn to that experience on Fleury’s resume, seeing that understanding of how opposing play callers tend to dial up formations and coverages as a major plus for being able to scheme an offensive attack. And, as Macdonald pointed out in the first press conference introducing Fleury, every coach has a first time when it comes to calling plays, and just because he hasn’t done it before doesn’t mean he won’t be successful at it.
Speaking with reporters on Sunday, Fleury expressed his excitement for the opportunity in front of him, acknowledging that the past two days have been the most fun he has had over the past seven years as an offensive coach as he gears up for a battle with the Patriots.
“Just going into the game plan process with the guys,” Fleury said, smiling as he prepares for the next step in his coaching journey. “It’s such a great group of guys and they have so much experience together and they have so much ownership of the offense, and so being able to talk about things and how I see it, they see it, and make sure that it’s all synchronized together has been really fun.”
Since his arrival, Fleury has acclimated to his new gig quite well, earning the respect of his players with an even-keeled approach and excellent football acumen. Along the way, he has had to navigate many challenges for the first time, including the occasional frustration that comes with trying to get new players up to speed and knowing enough plays to participate in preseason games.
But as receiver Cooper Kupp noted, and Fleury himself referenced with how much he has enjoyed this first true game week thus far, transitioning into game planning for the regular season had put the coach back into his more comfortable, calculated element.
“He’s done an unbelievable job and it’s cool to see,” Kupp said. “You can ask the coaches, it’s not an easy thing, it’s not missed. We have an offensive coordinator come over, he didn’t bring anyone with him. He had to install his vision to coaches so they can go out and install it to the players. That’s a tough thing to do but it’s been cool to have that collaboration piece where you see the coaches, you see the players, you see Brian all working together to make sure we get the best plays out there, putting guys in the best situations possible. He’s done a great job.”
Expanding on what he has seen from Fleury since they first started working on the field in April, Kupp lauded the first-year coordinator for his ability to “visualize” what he wants to get done on the field, particularly when it comes to setting up future play calls and understanding how to maximize on the personnel at his disposal within his scheme.
“He has an understanding of what’s happening out on the field. Being able to see it, feel it and I think a huge part of being a good play caller, I’ve never been one but just my standpoint, is guys that can visualize what they want to get done,” Kupp explained. “Your head isn’t down on the call sheet. Your head is up seeing what’s happening. You’re calling it based off of, ‘I know I want to get our offense into this because of what I’m seeing.’ He does that on a regular basis. His understanding of the offense, how to set things up, get guys in places where they can execute and be able to attack vulnerabilities that he’s seeing defensively. That’s early on, seeing how he can do that as visualization on that side of things. Call stuff off the top of his head. That’s difficult to do and it shows you his understanding of what he’s trying to get done.”
In many ways, Fleury has been an extension of Kubiak, starting with his personality. A man of few words, Kubiak spoke far more with his actions than his mouth beyond calling in plays on his headset, and his successor offers a similar demeanor, rarely changing facial expressions and displaying any emotion one way or the other during the course of a practice.
For players such as tight end AJ Barner, that “reserved” persona has carried over into the facility during meetings, film sessions, and even conversations outside of football. While he might not always have a lot to say, when he does speak, he commands the respect and attention of everyone in the room, adding his own wrinkles and terminology to the mix to make a similar system his own with sights on keeping the Seahawks humming as one of the league’s most potent offenses.
As part of that budding relationship with his new coach, Barner indicated that the “Barn Yard” tight end-turned-quarterback sneak will remain on the menu for the ‘Hawks.
“I know his personality a bit more now, on a coach-player relationship [level],” Barner said of Fleury. “Having those conversations inside and outside of football. Throughout the year you can learn your play caller as well. For any player, the more plays you make in a game, the play caller is going to have a bigger appetite to call more plays for you. For any guy on our team, it's just taking advantage of opportunity. We’re comfortable with coach Fleury calling it and feel like the scheme is in a good place.”
Now less than three days away from his debut, Fleury will soon have all of the game planning details installed, leaving just a walkthrough practice and meetings on Tuesday before the real bullets start to fly on Wednesday night at Lumen Field. The hay will be in the barn, as the saying goes.
Always seemingly calm and collected, Fleury’s stoicism will truly be put to the test in the hours leading up to kickoff. But as Macdonald advised, if he experiences some butterflies and pre-game jitters, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And everything seen from OTAs through camp and the preseason suggests the coordinator won’t have any issues following his head coach’s advice to take a breath, enjoy the moment, and not make it bigger than it needs to be.
As for who else he may seek counsel from leading up to Wednesday’s debut, with his former allies in Santa Clara rooting for him to succeed while also hoping his new team doesn’t come out on top to open their title defense, Fleury may need to stick to calling upon Macdonald and those in-house. At the end of the day, those are the only people he needs on his side as he begins his new chapter in Seattle.
“Unfortunately, the people I would seek advice from aren’t really interested in seeing us do well, so not many.”
