The Seahawks introduced new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury on Thursday. Fleury, who was the run game coordinator and tight ends coach with the 49ers, has never served as an offensive play caller.
That fact didn’t scare head coach Mike Macdonald, who had never called plays until Michigan made him defensive coordinator in 2021.
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“Going into it, I do think it’s a bit overrated,” Macdonald said, via Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. “At some point, all play callers have to be first-time play callers. 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.’’
Fleury called defensive plays as a defensive coordinator at Sacred Heart University from 2006-08 and ran the special teams at Towson from 2009-12. He moved to the offensive side of the ball in 2020 with the 49ers, became the team’s tight ends coach in 2022 and added run game coordinator duties under Kyle Shanahan last season.
Fleury said he has “always been preparing” to call the plays.
“The thing about offensive play-calling to me is the preparation is done ahead of time,” Fleury said. “You’re thinking through the situations and putting plays in a list format of when you get to second 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.”
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The most important thing for Macdonald was keeping Klint Kubiak’s system in place. The Seahawks ranked eighth in yards per game and passing yards per game and finished third in points scored per game (28.4).
Fleury said the offense will look “very similar to the one that just won the Super Bowl.”
