Seahawks Hire Away Ravens Defensive Coordinator

The end of the Pete Carrol era in Seattle caught many off guard but that chapter is officially over as of today. The Seahawks have found their new head coach as they hired the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to the vacancy on Wednesday, according to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

It is being reported that the deal between the Seahawks and Macdonald is a lengthy six-year contract.

With the hiring of Macdonald, the Seahawks will transition from having the oldest NFL head coach to the youngest. Carroll coached the 2023 season at the age of 72-years-old, while Macdonald is now the league’s youngest leader at 36 years old. Aside from the age difference, both coaches come from defensive backgrounds.

While the Seahawks interviewed multiple candidates, they found their guy in Macdonald who just engineered the Ravens to the league’s top-scoring defense in 2023. As it looks like solid hiring, Macdonald only has two years of NFL coordinator experience.

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Before his stint as a defensive coordinator, Macdonald started his coaching career as a coaching intern under John Harbaugh in Baltimore in 2014. After a while, Macdonald headed for the college ranks and spent a season under Jim Harbaugh as his defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan.

In his first NFL season as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, Macdonald had the Ravens’ defense as a top-ten unit in 2022 but raised the bar this past season as the defensive unit finished within the top-six of total defense and as the league’s top-scoring defense.

With Macdonald traveling to the NFC West, this move leaves the Ravens with a massive vacancy on the defensive side of the ball which may benefit the Steelers in 2024. With the news just breaking this week, it is uncertain who will fill the vacancy left by Macdonald in Baltimore.