PFR’s Luke Adams has been keeping track of all the defensive coordinators hired and fired as the offseason goes on, but after the Super Bowl there will likely be two more openings that will need to be filled. The currently open Falcons head coaching job is expected to be filled by Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, which will create a need for the Seattle to replace him. Quinn will also have to hire a coach to run his defense in Atlanta, should he get the job.
Seahawks defensive backs coach Kris Richard is expected to fill one of those roles, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Richard came to Seattle with Pete Carroll after spending two years as an assistant coach under Carroll at USC. He also played for Carroll at USC.
Richard was drafted by the Seahawks as a third-round pick in 2002, playing three seasons with the team as a cornerback. Florio believes this connection to Seattle could sway him to choose the Seahawks over the Falcons should he be offered both jobs.
All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman pressed for his coach to get more attention earlier this month, praising what Richard has accomplished in his time with the team, writes Clare Farnsworth of Seahawks.com.
“He took kind of a ragtag bunch of DBs in 2011 and made them perennial All-Pros and Pro Bowlers, and you don’t hear his name being mentioned as much for D-coordinator jobs and things like that. Which I think it should be,” said Sherman. “We obviously know what kind of coach he is and what he’s done. But obviously everybody else doesn’t.”
Whichever way he decides, Richard will likely be calling a defense for the first time in his career in 2015.