Seahawks to hire Aden Durde as defensive coordinator
Dallas Cowboys defensive line coach Aden Durde looks on prior to an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Maria Lysaker)
The Seattle Seahawks are hiring Dallas Cowboys defensive line coach Aden Durde as their new defensive coordinator.
The agreement was first reported by Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network. A source confirmed to FOX 13 Seattle the move is expected.
Durde, 44, is a native of Middlesex, England who played linebacker for six seasons in NFL Europe for the Scottish Claymores and Hamburg Sea Devils. He moved into coaching in England and spent six years as the defensive coordinator of the London Warriors, an American Football Club in the British American Football Association.
Durde joined the Cowboys as a coaching intern for two seasons in 2014-15 before moving on to intern for the Atlanta Falcons for one season. Durde also served as head of football development at NFLUK, where he helped guide the International Player Pathway program.
Durde then joined the Falcons' coaching staff full-time in 2018 as a defensive assistant on Dan Quinn's coaching staff. After that staff was let go in Atlanta, Durde followed Quinn back to Dallas to become the defensive line coach as Quinn was named defensive coordinator.
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has stated his intention to call plays for the defense, which is a role he handled as defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens.
"I’m the head coach of the football team, so I want to coach the football team," Macdonald said last week. "Right now, the best way that we can win, in my opinion, is for me to call the plays, and then when it becomes obvious that someone else is ready to go, and we see it the same way, then we’ll make that change."
Additionally, the team has hired former NFL head coach and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier to serve as assistant head coach to Macdonald. Durde will join the group with plenty of help on the defensive side of the ball.