Seattle Seahawks hiring Leslie Frazier as assistant head coach

The Seattle Seahawks are hiring Leslie Frazier as their assistant head coach, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported Friday.

Frazier, 64, took a year off from coaching in 2023 after spending the previous six seasons as defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills under head coach Sean McDermott. He spent the last three seasons of his tenure as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

Before his time in Buffalo, he spent a year as secondary coach for the Baltimore Ravens and two as defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His time in Baltimore and Tampa Bay followed three plus seasons as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. He went 21-32 in Minnesota before being fired after the 2013 season. Frazier began his NFL coaching career in 1999 and has remained a highly respected figure among NFL circles since.

Leslie Frazier joins Mike Macdonald’s staff in Seattle

His short stint in Baltimore coincided with newly hired Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, who started out as an intern in 2014. Frazier has long been a mentor of Macdonald’s and will now assist him in Seattle.

The Seahawks hired Macdonald to replace Pete Carroll after watching him oversee one of the league’s best defenses for the past two seasons. The 36-year-old met with the Seattle media for the first time Thursday and expressed his excitement to get to work.

“When I hear people tell me you’ve risen really fast,” Macdonald said. “It makes me a little uncomfortable because that’s not really the goal. You’re trying to be in the role that you are to help the team the best you can. Ultimately as your roles and your responsibilities increase, your ability to do that is greater. I think that’s the mentality you have to have.

“The more you’re in this business and you’re around these great people and the competition is so high, you realize there’s no way it can be just you. There’s so much. There’s so much power in the effort of the group and it kind of unlocking the people around you. So, the whole goal is about empowering those folks and trying to bring the best out of them, and then ultimately as an organization, that’s really how you go far, is together.”