Klint Kubiak Excited About Seahawks’ New, Yet Familiar, Coaching Staff

The Seattle Seahawks will benefit from continuity on their coaching staff with offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak bringing QB coach Andrew Janocko and offensive line coach John Benton to town with him.

RENTON, Wash. - Though he remains one of the youngest offensive coordinators in the NFL at 37 years young and roughly the same age as his new head coach Mike Macdonald, Klint Kubiak came out of the womb with coaching in his blood, bringing a rare amount of experience and expertise to the Seattle Seahawks with 11 years as an assistant in the league already under his belt.

Having bounced around as a member of five different organizations while holding the roles of coordinator, quarterback coach, and pass game coordinator along the way and enjoying plenty of success in a myriad of positions, Kubiak attributes his growth and seasoning beyond his years to not only learning from his father Gary, who won a Super Bowl as head coach of the Broncos in 2015, but the many outstanding assistants that he has been privileged to work alongside since his first NFL coaching gig back in 2013.

Not surprisingly, as Kubiak embarks on his latest journey as an NFL play caller in Seattle, he wanted to pay it forward by bringing several of those assistants who have positively impacted his development as a coach along for the ride, including offensive line coach John Benton and quarterback coach Andrew Janocko. At the same time, as he indicated in his introductory press conference on Tuesday, he also wanted to continue growing with exposure to new ideas, creating plenty of enthusiasm for the chance to learn from new assistants that he hasn’t worked with previously such as pass game coordinator Jake Peetz and tight end coach Mack Brown, who were retained from the previous staff.

"It definitely just has all come with experience and being in the fire and being around really good coaches that I've been blessed to work with because you don't do it alone, you do it with a whole staff of coaches,” Kubiak said of his progression as a coach. “I think that the guys that we have in our room right now, I'm really excited about, obviously the guys that I've worked with before and I've been through the fire with and then the new guys I have not worked with that we can draw on ideas from. But it just comes from experience, and I've been really fortunate that I've had some experiences early in my career and just like the players, we're just asking all of our guys to get better with every rep."

To an extent, what’s old will be new for Kubiak in the Pacific Northwest, starting with his long relationship with Benton, who offers more than 20 years of NFL experience and previously worked for Gary Kubiak with the Texans from 2006 to 2013. The two men have known each other through that avenue for nearly two decades and worked together for the first time in New Orleans last year, managing to steer the Saints to a 14th overall ranking in rushing despite a litany of injuries along the offensive line and at the skill positions.

Renowned for his teaching prowess and extensive ties to the Kubiak zone scheme, which heralded from Mike Shanahan’s system, Benton has helped architect several top-10 rushing attacks during his illustrious coaching career. During his time with Houston, the team finished in the top 10 in rushing yards three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012, helping the franchise win two AFC North titles and a pair of playoff games. In addition, he built a strong offensive line in San Francisco, where the team established a top-three rushing attack in 2019 that paved the way for a Super Bowl berth.

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald introduces new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and explains why he opted to hire him as the team’s new play caller.

Considering his impressive track record, Kubiak wasted little time recommending Benton to Macdonald to become Seattle’s new line coach, and the two will now work together once again to take on the challenging task of overhauling a Seahawks’ offensive line that struggled mightily in all facets last season.

"If our identity is going to be a running football team, it starts with coach Benton and his approach,” Kubiak remarked. “Just really impressed with his ability as a teacher, number one. He's an excellent teacher. The way he runs the room, holds his guys accountable. I've just seen the way he leads men and his schemes are excellent.”

Fired up for the opportunity to coach veteran quarterback Geno Smith, who he called a “huge draw” to the position in part due to his toughness and propensity for finishing in the clutch, Kubiak also hired Janocko as Seattle’s new quarterback coach, the same role he held in New Orleans, Chicago, and Minnesota over the past five seasons. Kubiak worked with him on the Vikings and Saints staffs, gaining great admiration for his skills as a teacher as well.

Unlike most quarterback coaches in the league, Janocko offers remarkable position versatility as an instructor, as he previously served as Minnesota’s assistant offensive line coach and receivers coach prior to being elevated to quarterback coach when Kubiak took over as offensive coordinator in 2021. With that background, he has had great success developing experienced and youthful signal callers alike, helping Kirk Cousins throw 33 touchdowns in his lone season as the quarterback coach with the Vikings as well as working with Justin Fields and Spencer Rattler the past few years with the Vikings and Saints.

Developing a tight relationship with Janocko over the years, like Benton, Kubiak holds great confidence in Janocko’s teaching skills and expects his diverse coaching background will pay major dividends helping Smith “visualize the whole picture” and consequently elevate his game to a whole other level in 2025.

“Those are the things we're looking for in our coaching staffs, great teachers and guys that can motivate,” Kubiak said. “Andrew Janocko is a really good teacher. I've seen him do it with Kirk Cousins, with Derek Carr, and seen him relate to the younger players like Spencer Rattler and develop those guys. I'm really thankful for Mike [Macdonald] and John [Schneider] for letting us bring those guys here and to get us started quicker."

While Kubiak believes the presence of Benton and Janocko will help the Seahawks hit the ground running implementing a new scheme, he also will have the benefit of working with Peetz, a former assistant for Sean McVay in Los Angeles who has learned under the same coaching tree stemming from Shanahan, for the first time. He also will have the chance to reunite with running back coach Kennedy Polamalu, who worked as the Vikings running back coach all three seasons Kubiak was on the staff from 2019 to 2021.

Combining the familiar with the unknown in his latest stop on the coaching carousel, Kubiak hopes the setup of the coaching staff will create a long-term home for him in Seattle, as he has coached for five different teams in five seasons. That feeling would be a mutual one for Macdonald and the Seahawks too, as the decision to move on from Ryan Grubb in January ensured that they would be on their fourth offensive coordinator since the start of the 2020 season and failing to hit on this hire could spell doom for the second-year head coach.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, Kubiak knows that Seattle’s success will depend on the entire staff working together seamlessly to get the most out of a talented group of players headlined by Smith, DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Ken Walker III. But with him and Macdonald on the same page in terms of a shared vision for what they want the Seahawks to look like on game day and several coaches he has worked with in the past joining forces, he’s eager for the chance to push the offense to new heights and put the franchise back on the map as a contender in the NFC.

“I know how big of an opportunity it is, and I don't take it lightly. We've got some really impressive coaches on our staff to work with, and that's what it's really about is our staff and what we do together. It's had nothing to do with me. It's us communicating a vision to our players together, and that is critical. That's what we're in the weeds of right now as a coaching staff. So, there's plenty of work to do, and I'm really fortunate to be a Seattle Seahawk and looking forward to the challenge."