Seahawks Set to Interview Saints Offensive Coordinator For Second Time

Emerging as a clear frontrunner for their offensive coordinator vacancy, the Seattle Seahawks will conduct a second interview with New Orleans Saints play caller Klint Kubiak.

The 37-year old Kubiak spoke with the Seahawks on Monday shortly after the Browns passed on him in favor of hiring Tommy Rees. Per NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, the second interview will be done in person with coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider partaking in the meeting.

Since Seattle fired Ryan Grubb earlier this month, Kubiak has been linked to the offensive coordinator job in large part due to his prior ties with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan as well as his strong track record coaching quarterbacks such as Kirk Cousins and Brock Purdy.

After three seasons as an assistant with the Broncos, Kubiak took over as the Vikings quarterback coach in 2019, and Cousins had one of the best seasons of his career, throwing 26 touchdowns compared to eight interceptions as the team advanced to the Divisional Round of the postseason. Though the team regressed in 2020 with Kubiak's father as the offensive coordinator, the signal caller tossed a career-high 35 touchdowns leading the fourth-best offense in terms of yardage.

With this success, coach Mike Zimmer promoted Kubiak to offensive coordinator in 2021. Under the young coach's guidance, Cousins nearly hit his career-high for touchdowns again, finishing ninth in the NFL with 33 of them. But Minnesota finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs, leading to the entire coaching staff being replaced.

Over the next two seasons, Kubiak served as a pass game coordinator for the Broncos and 49ers, working with former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson during a trying campaign under one-and-done coach Nathaniel Hackett and helping Purdy throw for 31 touchdowns and lead the league in passer rating (113.0), yards per attempt (9.6), and touchdown rate (seven percent) in 2023.

With his work with Purdy restoring some of his shine, Kubiak took over as the Saints offensive coordinator this season, and before injuries struck, the offense looked like a formidable top-five caliber unit. New Orleans exceeded 40 points in each of the first two games, only to see receivers and linemen start dropping like flies as the team followed up with seven straight losses, leading to the dismissal of coach Dennis Allen.

Still, despite all of the injuries that the Saints endured, Kubiak impressively still managed to coordinate the offense to a 14th ranked rushing attack and rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler showed significant improvement in the final month of the season under his watch.

Considering Kubiak utilizes an offensive scheme quite similar to the ones being ran in Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia with extensive 12 and 21 personnel usage, it shouldn't be surprising that Seattle seems smitten by him as a candidate to succeed Grubb.

With that said, it's still early in the Seahawks search and with the Lions preparing to play the Commanders in the Divisional Round this weekend, they can't have a second interview with offensive line coach Hank Fraley if they want one. Several other candidates could also still be in consideration that have yet to be reported, so even with Kubiak speaking with them a second time, that doesn't mean a contract offer is a guarantee just yet.

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