For the third year in a row, there’s a new Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator in town. Not all OC hires are the same, however, and former San Francisco 49ers tight ends coach Brian Fleury isn’t here to rescue a struggling offense like his predecessor Klint Kubiak, but to build off of Kubiak’s success as a Super Bowl champion play-caller turned Las Vegas Raiders head coach.
Beyond working under Kyle Shanahan since 2019, Fleury has prior familiarity with some current Seahawks coaches and players,
most notably quarterback Sam Darnold and tight end Eric Saubert when they were both on the team in 2023, as well as offensive line coach John Benton. While he’s never held an OC role at any level of football before, Fleury has been considered an up-and-coming assistant coach whose promotion to offensive coordinator status was seemingly inevitable.
Fleury held his first press conference as Seahawks OC on Thursday, with head coach Mike Macdonald alongside him. Here are some of the more intriguing quotes from his media session. (Transcript provided by Seahawks Media)
Thanking the San Francisco 49ers organization
“I want to take an opportunity to really thank the York family and the San Francisco 49ers organization for seven great years. That’s a long time for us. My family and I have never been anywhere that long, and we have a lot of lifelong memories and experiences from that, both inside and outside of football. I also want to thank Kyle Shanahan for the opportunities he gave me in the building to take ownership of new roles and develop me to the point where I’m sitting here today. Now to answer the question, the opportunity means a lot. I mean, I think there’s only 13 of these non-head coach play calling jobs on the planet. So, to be considered for one was an honor, and now to be sitting here next to Mike [Macdonald], I can’t really express it any better than that.”
What the Seahawks offense will look like under Fleury
“It looks very similar to the one that just won the Super Bowl. It’s more about how you play than what you’re actually doing schematically. We’re going to be fast, violent, and aggressive in every way that we possibly can. Put pressure on defenses, both schematically and from a tempo standpoint, and just always have that type of mindset.”
Brian Fleury’s prior play-calling experience
“I’ve called defense and special teams, both at the collegiate level. I have not called offensive plays, but have always been preparing to. The thing about offensive play calling to me is the preparation is done ahead of time. You’re thinking through the situations and putting plays in a list format of when you get to 2nd and one inside the 30-yard line, what are you going to call? So, the preparation aspect of it I’ve already done, now it’s just a matter of analyzing the information in real time and getting to the right play call on the sheet.”
Expect a lot of continuity from the Klint Kubiak offense to the Brian Fleury offense
“I do think one of the advantages of taking this job is there is going to be a lot of continuity. I’ve already started to dive into everything that Klint was doing here last year, and the goal would be to maintain as much of that as possible. But there’s also areas where we can supplement that with things that we’ve developed and done in San Francisco under Kyle that Klint wasn’t there for or maybe didn’t implement as much. So, that’s going to be the goal, to keep as much as we can the same, but I think there’s definitely areas where we can grow, some different ways we can challenge the players that they should be looking forward to when they get back here.”
Will Brian Fleury call plays from the booth or on the field?
“My vision would be to call it from the field, but I would like to do both in the preseason. There’s just something to be said for having face-to-face conversations with every position group, and I also think that it’s important if you have things in mind and you’re anticipating calling stuff to preview it with those groups. That’s something I would like to be able to do in person, which that would be the disadvantage from calling it from the booth. I’ve spent a number of games up there and I do think that taking some of the sensory out of it helps and calms things from a play caller standpoint. I think ultimately I’ll end up wanting to do it from the field for those reasons.”
If Brian Fleury’s defensive background shapes his offensive philosophy
“Yeah, it 100% does. And I was fortunate to work in a bunch of different styles of defense. So it just makes it easier for me, I think, to diagnose how the defense is operating, how they’re built, what the coverage structure is, how it works with the fronts, and what that allows me to do is probably quicker than maybe some other people get to ways to unlock that both formational and structurally, and again, put pressure on them to create conflicts.”
Mike Macdonald addresses Brian Fleury’s lack of offensive playcalling experience
“Going into it, I do think it’s a bit overrated. At some point, all play callers have to be first time play callers at some point. You could tell how Brian thinks about the game. Look, you’re going to have to grow into any new role, but we have a lot of great people around here and a lot of great opportunities for him to get ready to go. I’m really confident he’s going to be off and running sooner than later. I’m excited about it. It’s going to be a fun process to build this thing.”
The full video of Fleury’s press conference can be seen below.
