The Seattle Seahawks officially announced their assistant coaches changes this week. On Tuesday the team announced the hiring of Brian Schottenheimer as the offensive coordinators, Ken Norton Jr defensive coordinator and Mike Solari and the offensive line coach.
The obvious question is what will the three men bring into the Hawks coaching nest.
Possible role:
There is no doubt Schottenheimer’s role will be to bring out the best in Russell Wilson which in turn will improve the Seahawks 23ranked offense. You cannot blame Carroll for wanting to make a change here. Wilson led the league in touchdown passes at 34 and yet was second in the number of sacked yards at 322. Kirk Cousins led the league with 342. You add the fact that Wilson had the tenth best passer rating in the NFL (95.4) and was ninth in passing yard at 3983, it’s a no-brainer that you do not need one the best quarterbacks in the league-leading your team in rushing as Wilson did with the Hawks with 586 rushing yards.
Schottenheimer’s legacy at this moment in time has been his ability to develop quarterbacks to their full potential. Schottenheimer’s spent the last two years as the quarterback coach in Indianapolis and before that was an offensive coordinator with the New York Jets from 2006-20011 and the St Louis Rams 2012-2014. While Schottenheimer is credited with the maturation of Drew Brees, he is somewhat of a running game specialist.
Schottenheimer’s offenses finished in the top 10 in the NFL in rushing yards, attempts and yards per attempt three times, and top ten in rushing touchdowns four times. The 2009 Jets, who advanced to the AFC championship game, led the NFL both in rushing attempts and yards.
Possible Role
Norton is a returning familiar face having coached the team’s linebackers from 2010 to 2014 before leaving to become the defensive coordinator for the Raiders after the Seahawks decided to give their defensive coordinator job to Richard who was takin over for Dan Quinn. Norton was fired by the Raiders in November and was picked up by the San Francisco 49ers to become the assistant head coach / inside linebackers. That was the plan until the Seahawks came calling and Norton headed to Seattle
Norton spent 13 years in the NFL as a linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys and the 49ers and won three consecutive Superbowls 1992-93-94. The first two were with the Dallas Cowboys and the last one in 94 was with the 49ers. Norton is the son of former heavy weight boxing champion Ken Norton and coaches the way he played. A hard-nosed passionate player who is willing to go toe to toe on every player.
Norton is a Pete Carroll guy and will be expected to bring back the tough hard hitting swagger that had the Seahawks as the best defense in football rather than an above average defense.
Possible Role:
Like Norton Solari is returning to the Seahawks. Solari was the Seahawks offensive line coach in 2008-09. Solari has a long coaching history that dates back to 1987. Solari has been with the Cowboys, Cardinals Chiefs, Packers, Giants, and 49ers. The 63-year-old Solari was the tight-ends coach and assistant offensive line coach with the 49ers in 1995-96 when Carroll was the teams, defensive coordinator.
Solari has experience with a wide variety of blocking schemes and should help Seattle decide what type of blocking technique will help the teams offensive line. With most teams using a variation of zone blocking and man to man Solari will be given the task of determing how often and when the team should zone block on the running and passing plays.
