Mike Macdonald Details Importance of Leslie Frazier to Seattle Seahawks Coaching Staff

The Seattle Seahawks are excited to have Leslie Frazier aboard on their coaching staff.

Jan 15, 2022; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier walks the field before an AFC Wild Card playoff football game against the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports / Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

The Seattle Seahawks have a first-year head coach in Mike Macdonald, so it's important to have some experience behind him as he navigates uncharted territory.

Someone able to help in that department is Leslie Frazier, who was a head coach for 54 games with the Minnesota Vikings from 2010-13 and has more than 25 years of NFL experience.

Having known Frazier dating back to their time together on the Ravens coaching staff, when the opportunity arose to hire him in Seattle, Macdonald wasted little time adding him to his first staff.

Sep 26, 2021; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier on the field before a game against the Washington Football Team at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports / Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

"Leslie is an elite communicator, a loyal person, a loyal coach," Macdonald said after Seattle's fifth OTA practice. "Super high character individual. Again, representative of the type of people we want in the building. The relationships he's been able to build with the players, just really appreciate that. Forwarding the message, things like that. Helps us with scheme as well. So it's kind of everywhere. A resource to me personally, just direction and steering the ship, seeing around corners which I've talked about in the past. Just absolutely really excited that he's with us"

Since Frazier left the Vikings over a decade ago, he's gone on to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Baltimore Ravens and most recently, the Buffalo Bills, where he was an assistant head coach from 2020-22.

Frazier's one year with the Ravens overlapped with Macdonald, where the two of them forged a strong relationship.

"I think Les is probably the first or second guy we called when everything went down, and was a priority to work with him," Macdonald said. "Just really cherish our relationship."

After taking 2023 off, Frazier is back in the NFL with the Seahawks alongside Macdonald, who hopes to build one of the league's best defenses in Seattle once again.