RENTON, Wash. -- When Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, fresh off a win in Super Bowl LX, set out to find a new offensive coordinator last week, he thought he was most likely going to fill that role by promoting from within.
Then he talked to Brian Fleury.
The longtime San Francisco 49ers assistant impressed Macdonald enough to get the job over four in-house candidates that also interviewed to replace Klint Kubiak, who became the Las Vegas Raiders' head coach.
"He just did a phenomenal job," Macdonald said Thursday while sitting next to Fleury inside the team's headquarters. "I think his vision and what he believes in offensively ... was aligned with how we want it to. The principles and philosophy on how he goes about his business and how he coaches and what he wants from our offense, he took it straight out of our culture graphic."
Fleury has no offensive playcalling experience, but when Macdonald interviewed him last Saturday, he heard a coach who spoke his language.
"All the things we've talked about throughout the season in terms of connectivity, attention to detail, the chasing edges type of mentality, he didn't use those words verbatim, but he might as well have," Macdonald said. "How we want to run off the football. Tacitly, there's a lot of similarities as well. But just how we do business, it felt like he'd be a great partner to work with."
Macdonald was seeking continuity for quarterback Sam Darnold and the rest of Seattle's offense. It's why he initially interviewed four of his assistants -- quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, run game specialist Justin Outten, tight ends coach Mack Brown and passing game coordinator Jake Peetz -- and why he ultimately tabbed someone from a similar West Coast system.
Fleury spent seven seasons under coach Kyle Shananan with the 49ers, including the past four as their tight ends coach. He added the title of run game coordinator in 2025, though he was heavily involved in their run game before that. Kubiak was San Francisco's passing game coordinator in 2023, the year Darnold backed up Brock Purdy.
"So a lot of alignment," Macdonald said, "and it gave us an opportunity to have some great continuity and keep some great coaches as well, and let us take our offense to the next level."
Not that it will look much different.
"It looks very similar to the one that just won the Super Bowl," Fleury said about his offense. "It's more about how you play than what you actually are doing schematically. We're going to be fast and violent and aggressive in every way that we possibly can, put pressure on defenses both schematically and from a tempo standpoint, and always have that type of a mindset."
During Kubiak's lone season in Seattle, the Seahawks led the NFL in designed rush rate. They ran the second-highest rate of plays from under center while also ranking in the top 10 percentage-wise in play-action, dropbacks that took the quarterback outside of the pocket and rushes outside the tackles. Like San Francisco, the Seahawks rostered a fullback, though Fleury said their usage of that position might depend on the opponent.
"I've already started to dive into everything that Klint was doing here last year and the goal would be to maintain as much of that as possible," Fleury said. "But there's also areas where we can supplement that with things that we've developed and done at San Francisco under Kyle that Klint wasn't there for or maybe didn't implement as much.
"... I think there's definitely areas where we can grow, some different ways that we can challenge the players that they should be looking forward to when they get back here."
A college quarterback, Fleury began his playing career at Maryland before transferring to Towson, where he would later serve as special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach. He began his NFL coaching career in 2013 and worked on the defensive side of the ball for his first seven seasons, including a three-year stint with the Miami Dolphins in which his main duties entailed football research.
Fleury said his defensive background "100%" has influenced his offensive approach.
"I was fortunate enough to work in a bunch of different styles of defense," Fleury said. "So it makes it easier for me, I think, to diagnose how the defense is operating, how they're built, where the coverage structure is and how it works with the fronts. What that allows me to do is -- probably quicker than maybe some other people -- get to ways to unlock that both formationally and then structurally and put pressure on them to create conflicts."
Fleury hasn't called offensive plays at any level. Now he's one of 13 non-head coaches who have that job in the NFL. He said he'll probably call plays from the field but that he'll also do so from the booth in the preseason.
Macdonald said playcalling experience is "a bit overrated," noting that every playcaller has to start somewhere.
"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 and I'm really confident that he's going to be off and running sooner than later," Macdonald said. "So, I'm excited about it. It's going to be a fun process to build this thing."
The Seahawks are finalizing their offensive staff under Fleury. Among the positions still to be filled is quarterbacks coach, with Janocko following Kubiak to be the Raiders' offensive coordinator. He confirmed former Baltimore Ravens director of football strategy/assistant quarterbacks coach Daniel Stern has joined Seattle's staff, saying his role will be fluid.
Seattle is promoting Outten to run game coordinator and hiring former Northern Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock as running backs coach/senior offensive assistant, sources told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Pete Thamel, respectively.
Macdonald also confirmed the hiring of former Ravens defensive coordinator Zachary Orr as inside linebackers coach. Kirk Olivadotti, who filled that position the past two seasons, will have a different role on Seattle's staff.
ESPN's Nick Wagoner contributed to this report.