The appointment of Fleury as offensive coordinator surprised some, and now we know why Seattle chose him.
The Seattle Seahawks have undergone a lot of change this offseason after winning the Super Bowl.
Most of it has been personnel, but there has also been one big change to the coaching department, and it was at offensive coordinator.
The Seahawks knew before the Super Bowl that Klint Kubiak was heading to the Las Vegas Raiders to be the head coach, so Mike Macdonald and Co. knew they had a vacancy to fill.
After a quick search, the Seahawks, to the surprise of some, landed on Brian Fleury, who was the run game coordinator and tight ends coach for the San Francisco 49ers last season.
Until now, we didn't know the reason why the Seahawks landed on Fleury, and in truth, we didn't really need to. Seattle is the NFL champs, so we aren't exactly questioning anything it does.
But former NFL QB Brock Huard, who was on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, revealed what led the franchise to go with Fleury over some of the in-house candidates.
“I know he crushed the whiteboard,” Huard said. “I can say that confidently. I know he crushed the whiteboard. I know in the interview process it was pretty overwhelming to everybody in the room that his years under Kyle, and his understanding of situational ball, and the level and the depth and the detail was pretty overwhelming, because there were strong in-house candidates, a number of them.
“And to go this route, there’s a confidence that Mike has. And his judgement in these situations has been pretty, pretty, pretty strong once he moved on from (2024 Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb).”
Given that Fleury has never called plays in the NFL before, there is always an element of risk to a move like this, and while Brian clearly crushed his interview, now the true test of his capabilities will be known.
The offseason will be where Fleury gets the chance in practice to simulate real NFL scenarios that he will encounter in 2026 as part of Macdonald's staff.
It is clear the Seahawks were impressed with what Fleury did during the interview process, but now it is all about him getting his scheme and system across in a way that his players can be the best version of themselves.
Then the test will be how this offense looks when things get real in the regular season, because all the practice in the world doesn't compare to Week 1.
