Seahawks Reveal 2026 Coaching Staff, Maintain Continuity Under Mike Macdonald
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Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images [/caption]
In the midst of the opening week of free agency, the Seattle Seahawks announced their finalized coaching staff for the 2026 season, and coming off a Super Bowl LX victory, one could have expected to see a lot of new faces under coach Mike Macdonald.
Much like the 90-man roster, however, while there were a few noteworthy departures such as former offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak going to the Raiders as their new head coach, Macdonald and the front office did a fantastic job of keeping most of the band together as the franchise defends its Super Bowl title.
As the biggest change on the staff, Brian Fleury will take over in Kubiak’s stead as Seattle’s new offensive coordinator, taking over as a play caller for the first time in his coaching career at any level. To ease that transition, Macdonald managed to maintain most of the offensive staff from last year’s Super Bowl team with only quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko and senior assistant Rick Dennison following Kubiak to Las Vegas, including offensive line coach John Benton, run game coordinator Justin Outten, pass game coordinator Jake Peetz, receivers coach Frisman Jackson, and tight ends coach Mack Brown.
From that group, the retention of Benton and Outten should be especially beneficial for Fleury. Benton helped transform one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines into a strength last year and will have his entire starting offensive line back in 2026, headlined by recently re-signed tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas. Outten jumped into the running backs coach role in place of Kennedy Polamalu in the second half of the season along with his run game specialist title and Seattle’s rushing attack took off down the stretch and into the playoffs, keying the team’s title run.
Further fortifying the offensive coaching staff around Fleury, Macdonald lured former Northern Illinois head coach and long-time Ravens assistant Thomas Hammock back to the NFL ranks as a senior offensive assistant and running backs coach. Coming over from Baltimore, where he most recently served as an assistant quarterback coach and previously worked with Macdonald, Daniel Stern brings a wealth of experience to the group as a pass game strategist.
If there’s another potential question mark for the Seahawks going into a new season away from Fleury, Macdonald will be counting on the combo of Peetz and Tyson Prince to take the torch from Janocko as co-quarterbacks coaches. Peetz has held the role in the NFL before, however, coaching quarterbacks with the Raiders in 2017 and the Panthers in 2020, while Prince worked in tandem with Janocko as an assistant last year and belongs on the short list of rising young coaches to watch as an offensive coordinator candidate in the near future. Stern will also add another voice in the quarterback room with his prior experience.
Defensively, the Seahawks didn’t have any losses from last year’s staff, as Aden Durde will return for a third season as defensive coordinator after interviewing for a couple of head coaching jobs in January. Additionally, after interviewing for defensive coordinator jobs with other teams, defensive pass game coordinator Karl Scott and safeties coach Jeff Howard will return to coach up the secondary. Kirk Olivadotti, who coached inside linebackers over the past two seasons, will now hold the title of senior defensive assistant, while Chris Partridge received the promotion to defensive run game coordinator and defensive line coach Justin Hinds will be back for a third season, helping maintain continuity at all three levels.
But there will be a key addition coming onboard for Seattle to further strengthen an already outstanding group of coaches with the arrival of inside linebackers coach Zachary Orr, who reunites with Macdonald after replacing him as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator over the past two seasons. Former NFL linebacker Josh Bynes, who has been an assistant linebackers coach the past two years, will step into the outside linebackers coach role previously held by Partridge, while Keller Chryst also earned a promotion from special projects to defensive quality control coach.
Rounding out the staff, Macdonald will have his top confidant in assistant head coach Leslie Frazier back in the saddle for a third season, while special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh and assistant Devin Fitzsimmons will return aiming to replicate last year’s success with a top-three special teams unit. The entire strength/conditioning staff has also been kept fully intact with Ivan Lewis returning as the director of player performance and development with all five of his assistants from a year ago returning.
Rolling into a new season with a target on their backs after hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, all eyes will be on Fleury, whose growth as a first-time play caller will be critical to Seattle’s chances of running it back and being in the mix for a repeat. But aside from filling big shoes left behind by Kubiak, Macdonald masterfully managed to keep the majority of his staff on all three sides of the football and in the process, he also added excellent coaches in Hammock and Orr to take the group to another level.
Time will tell whether or not Fleury flourishes making a massive jump from a tight ends coach to an offensive coordinator. However, it can be argued that the Seahawks have an even stronger staff overall than they did last season to go with maintaining most of their key starters on both sides of the football, setting the stage for them to be prime players in the NFC once again in 2026.
