Source: Seahawks hiring Frazier as assistant HC

SEATTLE — The Seahawks plan to hire former Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier as their assistant head coach, a source confirmed to ESPN on Friday.

Frazier becomes the first assistant known to be hired to coach Mike Macdonald’s staff. The two will reunite in Seattle after coaching together with the Baltimore Ravens in 2016, when Macdonald had the title of defensive assistant and Frazier was the secondary coach.

Macdonald, hired Wednesday after spending the past two seasons as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator, is the NFL’s youngest head coach at 36. Frazier, 64, brings over two decades of NFL coaching experience to Seattle. He has been a defensive coordinator for four teams, most recently filling that role for the Bills from 2017 to 2022 while also holding the title of assistant head coach from 2020 to 2022.

Frazier was the Minnesota Vikings‘ head coach from 2011 to 2013. He did not coach in 2023.

During his introductory news conference Thursday, Macdonald said he plans to call defensive plays at first and eventually hand over those duties to a coordinator.

Former Ravens linebackers coach Zachary Orr was a candidate to fill that role on Macdonald’s staff before Baltimore promoted him to defensive coordinator, a source told ESPN.

NFL Network first reported Seattle’s plans to hire Frazier.

ESPN’s Jamison Hensley contributed to this report.