After a year off, Leslie Frazier will return to an NFL staff. The former Vikings head coach and Bills defensive coordinator will take a job in Seattle. Mike Macdonald is adding the veteran defensive coach to his staff, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets.
Macdonald has counted Frazier as a mentor, per Pelissero. Frazier and Macdonald coached together on the Ravens’ 2016 staff. Set to become the NFL’s youngest active HC, Macdonald will bring in one of the most experienced defensive staffers available. Frazier, 64, will become an assistant head coach in Seattle. Four teams pursued Frazier for an AHC role, according to CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson.
[RELATED: Commanders Offered Macdonald HC Job?]
The Chargers and Raiders interviewed Frazier for their HC positions last month, and while he never profiled as a strong candidate to land a top job during this year’s cycle, the veteran staffer certainly makes sense as an assistant. Frazier spent six seasons as the Bills’ DC, primarily holding play-calling responsibilities. Effectively forced out after last season, Frazier expressed a desire to return to coaching in 2024.
Frazier also interviewed for the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator position. That remains unfilled, pointing to Miami informing the recent AFC East DC he was no longer in the running for the job. With Macdonald set to call plays for the Seahawks, it is worth wondering if he will hire a defensive coordinator or if this Frazier hire will double as a de facto DC appointment.
Macdonald, 36, was not yet a position coach during Frazier’s season in Baltimore. Seattle’s new HC worked as a quality control assistant under Frazier that year; the latter was the team’s DBs coach in 2016. Macdonald took over that job in 2017, following Frazier’s Buffalo exit. Macdonald continued to rise within the Ravens’ organization. By 2022, both he and Frazier were NFL DCs.
Sean McDermott cut Frazier’s run as Buffalo DC short, moving on from the former NFL DB months before axing OC Ken Dorsey. Like Dorsey, Frazier’s units ranked well statistically. The Bills ranked first and second in scoring defense in 2021 and ’22, respectively, doing so largely without Tre’Davious White‘s services. Frazier’s 2022 defense also lost Micah Hyde early, and Von Miller suffered what looks like a career-altering ACL tear on Thanksgiving 2022. The Bills struggled to stop playoff opposition that year, coming after the terrifying Damar Hamlin situation, and Frazier was out soon after the team’s divisional-round loss to the Bengals. After going without a DC in 2023, McDermott promoted Bobby Babich to fill that role this week.
Going from the NFL’s oldest active head coach (Pete Carroll) to the youngest, the Seahawks now have a 35-year coaching veteran on their staff. Much of that experience came in the NFL. Frazier worked as an NFL staffer from 1999-2022. He went 21-32-1 as a head coach, with the Vikings’ ill-fated Christian Ponder first-round pick being their defining move during that period. Frazier did oversee a Minnesota playoff berth in 2012, when Adrian Peterson stormed to MVP honors. Frazier has also served as a DC for the Bengals and Buccaneers during his career.
I was never a Frazier fan, I preferred Friends
He was good on Cheers but didnt deserve his own show. A show about Norm and Vera would have been better.
I thought he was only stepping away from the Bills but was never actually fired. They didn’t seem to handle the situation well.
Do the Bills get a pick from the hire?
I don’t think so since it is a lateral position. Picks are only for becoming a HC or GM if in front office.
Exactly, they didn’t fire him.. likely out of respect to him. Didn’t want to put that on his resume.
Buffalo is a sinking ship. McDummy is a poor HC & it has shown in the playoffs
Seems like a good hire. I like it anyway.
This allows Coach Macdonald to start out calling defensive plays, but transition this responsibility to Frazier as his philosophy is fully integrated & installed. He also gets the experience of an established HC/DC to help him without worrying about being undercut. I like the move.
Smart move. Betcha McDonald reached out to Frazier before interviewing process began to see if he would be his DC regardless of where he landed.
Also, smart move by McDonald to take the Seattle job. Like Ravens, a stable organization. IMO, owner doesn’t meddle all that much and long time FO folks in place.
I’d say that you are mostly correct, but on the other hand, we did also just see them force their head coach into retirement. Perhaps necessary, perhaps not, but it does push back slightly against the norm for Allen.
Yes I agree Seattle is a stable organization, owner doesn’t meddle at all, she lets the football people do their job like Mr. Allen did and long time FO in place.
According to Pro Football Rumors ( link to profootballrumors.com ) as well as Sportskeeda ( link to sportskeeda.com ) late in the season Coach Carroll had plans to step down after the season then changed his mind but the wheels were already in motion to find a replacement.
Get your facts straight before popping off, we did NOT just see them force Carroll into retirement.
That is a sign of a stable franchise. Forming a plan, communicating it with those involved then executing said plan.
That sounds exactly like what a Allen run business would do.
And which Allen do you reference in your post?
Don’t know what your definition of “popping off” or “facts” are, but it sounds like, by your statement, that Carroll changed his mind…and ownership forced him out. So that does seem factual, despite your emotional reaction to it.
I don’t think that that by itself makes for bad ownership, but it does mark at least one significant instance of ownership making its mark on the operation of a franchise. Absentee ownership can be just as bad as meddling ownership, so it’s not necessarily good to have a completely hands off operation. The thing that we’ll have to see is whether this was a one time thing, as past behavior would suggest, or whether the ouster of Carroll leads to more intervention.
For my part, I actually agree that I do not expect the current Allen to deviate much from the hands off ownership of her predecessor. If by “we” you mean to say that you were part of this decision, I thank you for enlightening us here and I yield to your considerable qualifications. We, as in the public, cannot deny that denying Carroll the freedom to resume as coach came from anywhere other than the top, since he was the most powerful football executive in the organization. And, at the risk of being redundant but in the interest of being very clear, that is not objectively a good or bad thing. But it certainly involved ownership. Sometimes ownership DOES need to take a hand in football operation, sometimes it gets too active. This was definitely a significant case, even though it may end up a blip in the radar of an otherwise hands off ownership tradition.
Weird, he would have fit perfectly on the Raiders “land of misfit coaches” staff
Good coach, but his bend-don’t-break defenses broke at the wrong times.