Klint Kubiak is making his first decisions for the Seahawks offense.
They are rooted in continuity.
Scott Huff is out as Seattle’s offensive line coach after one season. Kubiak, Seattle’s new offensive coordinator, is bringing John Benton from New Orleans to be the Seahawks’ new offensive line coach.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Network was the first to report Monday the hiring of the 61-year-old Benton.
Benton was the O-line coach for the Saints this past season, while the 37-year-old Kubiak was New Orleans’ offensive coordinator.
Benton is a 33-year coaching veteran, 19 of those years in the NFL. He was the New York Jets’ line coach and run-game coordinator in 2021 and ‘22. Before that, he was the San Francisco 49ers’ O-line coach from 2017-20.
In the last 20 years, seven of the offensive lines he has coached finished in the Top 10 in the league in rushing yards per game.
Kubiak is also bringing Andrew Janocko from New Orleans to be Seattle’s new quarterbacks coach for veteran Geno Smith. The 36-year-old Janocko has also been a quarterbacks coach for the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings. He began his NFL coaching career in 2015 with Minnesota.
He replaces Charles London. London left the Seahawks after one season to be the new quarterbacks coach for the New York Jets.
The Seahawks also are reportedly retaining wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson from their 2024 staff.
Coach Mike Macdonald hired Kubiak last week to replace fired Ryan Grubb.
Grubb has accepted Kalen DeBoer’s offer to reunite with the former University of Washington head coach, with Grubb becoming the new OC for DeBoer’s University of Alabama.
A new guard
The Seahawks signed to a reserve/futures contract for offseason practices former University of Oregon guard Sala Aumavae-Laulu.
The Baltimore Ravens made him a sixth-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft. That was Macdonald’s second and final season as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator before he took the Seahawks’ head coaching job.
Aumavae-Laulu played two games for the Ravens while also on Baltimore’s practice squad.
UW Huskies coaches update
New Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll is bringing his son Brennan Carroll to be the NFL team’s new line coach.
Brennan Carroll was the line coach and offensive coordinator this past season for the University of Washington. Head coach Jedd Fisch called the plays.
Monday, Fisch announced Carroll’s replacement. The Huskies have promoted UW quarterbacks coach Jimmie Dougherty to offensive coordinator.
Fisch also said at a press conference he is promoting assistant offensive line coach Michael Switzer to replace Carroll as the Huskies’ new offensive line coach.
Washington has lost its offensive and defensive coordinators from its 6-7 team in Fisch’s first season replacing DeBoer in 2024. Steve Belichick left after this past season to become the defensive coordinator for his father Bill Belichick, the new head coach at the University of North Carolina.
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