Veteran NFL coach Leslie Frazier expected to join Seahawks staff

Veteran NFL coach Leslie Frazier is expected to join the Seattle Seahawks as an associate head coach, two people with knowledge of the hire told The Associated Press on Friday.

Frazier is the first big addition for new coach Mike Macdonald. The move pairs the youngest head coach in the NFL with Frazier, who has experience as an assistant and head coach in the league.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the hire has not been announced by the team. NFL Network first reported the move.

Frazier, 64, spent last season out of the NFL following a stint from 2017-22 when he was the defensive coordinator in Buffalo. Frazier has more than two decades of experience coaching in the NFL, first breaking into the league with Philadelphia back in 1999. Frazier also was a defensive coordinator in Cincinnati, Minnesota and Tampa Bay.

Frazier also had one stint as a head coach in Minnesota. Frazier took over halfway through the 2010 season and his interim tag was dropped after the season. Frazier’s best season came in 2012 when Minnesota went 10-6 and finished second in the NFC North, but lost to Green Bay in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

Minnesota tumbled to 5-10-1 in 2013, and he was fired after the season.

Frazier and Macdonald overlapped for one season in Baltimore in 2016 when Frazier was working as the secondary coach and Macdonald was a defensive assistant.

Macdonald, 36, said during his introductory news conference on Thursday that he intended on calling the defense with Seattle.

“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,” Macdonald said.

Reporting by The Associated Press.