The Seahawks now have three front-runners to be their new play caller.
Coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider were to have a second interview Tuesday, in person, with Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley about their offensive-coordinator job. Dan Graziano of ESPN reported that Tuesday morning.
Fraley, 47, has been Detroit’s line coach since 2020. He’s the third candidate to get a second interview with the Seahawks for the offensive coordinator job that opened two weeks ago when Macdonald fired Ryan Grubb.
Klint Kubiak, the 37-year-old offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints this past season, and 28-year-old Minnesota Vikings assistant offensive coordinator Grant Udinski have had second interviews with the Seahawks in the last four days.
Udinski also interviewed with the New England Patriots on Monday about possibly becoming their new offensive coordinator, Sports Illustrated reported.
Fraley is renowned in Detroit and across the NFL for building and leading one of the league’s best offensive lines and most dynamic rushing offenses. NFL senior writer Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports said Tuesday that, when she reported at Lions’ training camp last summer, she talked to Detroit’s running backs about the reasons for their success in rushing offense.
“It really starts with Hank Fraley,” they told Epstein.
“If you get that run-blocking scheme down, pass protection down, everything else is easy.”
Macdonald’s must-haves on Seattle’s offense for 2025 and beyond are improving his team’s porous offensive line, pass protection for quarterback Geno Smith and the team’s weak, inconsistent running game.
Fraley became available for an in-person interview after the Lions’ season ended Saturday night with their loss to the Washington Commanders in the NFC divisional playoffs.
He has some leverage in his talks with the Seahawks.
Ben Johnson was Fraley’s coaching colleague as the Lions’ offensive coordinator, until Monday. The Chicago Bears decided on Johnson to be their new head coach. Reportedly, Johnson is considering taking Fraley with him to be Chicago’s offensive coordinator.
Johnson, one of the league’s brightest, young offensive minds, is expected to call the Bears’ offensive plays. So Fraley apparently would be an offensive coordinator in title but not play calling in Chicago.
In Seattle, Fraley would call Seahawks plays. Macdonald has said he wants a coordinator he can trust with the autonomy to run and call the offense.
The Lions now need a new offensive coordinator. Fraley could get a promotion to that job to stay in Detroit with the players and staff he knows from the 2024 NFC North division champions.
His Lions players want that.
“No, you refuse to let Hank leave,” Lions four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow told reporters in Michigan on Sunday. “I haven’t played in this league without Hank, and I don’t plan on doing it.
“I’ll sabotage him, I’ll leak stories, whatever it takes,” Ragnow joked.
Fraley, a former 10-year NFL center, became Detroit’s assistant offensive line coach in 2018. That was the year the Lions made Ragnow a first-round pick.
“I don’t think I could play in this league without the guy. He’s everything to me. He’s been there since Day 1,” Ragnow told reporters. “In this league, there are a lot of coaches, but there’s not many coaches like him that empower his players and really it is an open dialogue. He really does everything he can to put us in the best positions to be confident and go out there and play well. …
“I’m just so grateful for him.”
Lions All-Pro offensive tackle Penei Sewell was defiant in talking about keeping Fraley with Detroit.
“He’s not going nowhere, at the end of the day. He’s not going nowhere,” Sewell told reporters in Michigan on Sunday. “He’s just been one of those pillars for me in this organization. When I first came in, I fell in love with him. …
“He’s like Coach (Dan) Campbell in terms of a figure in my eyes. So, he’s not going nowhere.”
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