Seattle Seahawks: British NFL coach Aden Durde on Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori and learning from Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles
Aden Durde enters his second season with the Seattle Seahawks as the first ever British-born defensive coordinator in NFL history; Durde speaks to Sky Sports about the evolution of his Seahawks defense, modern trends in the NFL and learning from the Philadelphia Eagles
Friday 18 July 2025 13:48, UK
The Seattle Seahawks boast an immoveable spot among the NFL's greatest and most distinguished defenses in history. With as much comes a lofty bar for any Legion of Boom disciple, successor or remodeller.
British defensive coordinator Aden Durde, coupled with head coach Mike Macdonald, is the man tasked with overseeing Seattle's evolution in the post-Pete Carroll era.
He does so at a time when static defense is no more, when coverage disguise is king, when safeties are field-fogging yo-yos and when coaches are crafting their own interpretation of the Vic Fangio system.
Durde is gearing up for his second season as defensive coordinator in Seattle having been plucked from the Dallas Cowboys staff to join Macdonald last February. Year one offered promise; year two teases even more.
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"As you go through the season, there's always ebbs and flows, we started hot, and going through that period, I think the guys feeling and fundamentally knowing they were playing good, it was cool to see," Durde tells Sky Sports.
"Then we hit that kind of lull for the middle of the season and then picked it up. I felt like the last part of the season, there became more of an understanding of what they were asked to do and it was different.
"They come from a system where they played some quarters (coverage), but that Seattle system, which I came from ironically in Atlanta, was a lot different to how we play now.
"And understanding how to play with a light box and go through all those things whilst they're playing, we saw some of the things come to fruition, but there's a lot of stuff we have to work on coming up."
Cover 3 had reigned supreme as a Seattle staple on the way to Super Bowl success behind Carroll and Dan Quinn, under whom Durde carved his route into the league in Atlanta before the pair later teamed up in Dallas.
But the league has since shifted towards a world of two-high safety shells and umbrella coverages with light boxes in aid of stifling the league's big-arm quarterbacks and daring offenses to win with the run or through long patient drives.
Now-Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Fangio has seen his scheme sweep the league, the job of adopting coaches being to unearth their own quirk and identity.
"Systematically, it's like how do you cancel a gap that open because you're playing with a light box?" Durde asks. "Do you do it with movement? Do you do it with two gap-ins? Do you do it with how the linebackers play behind it? Are you using the safeties in the fit? Are you using the nickel in the fit?
"There's different ways formationally and those things that will kind of answer those questions. I think that at times, a lot of it is a time-on-task life for the players.
"So understanding what the formation is and as the league is growing, the formation is changing on the snap a lot, you don't see static formations a lot anymore. It's going through repetition, especially because we are a young team, especially on the secondary."
Modern defense calls for coverage disguises whereby Cover 3 appearances can roll and rotate into two-high looks post-snap, and whereby defensive backs and linebackers can be employed to simulate pressure before retreating to muddy a quarterback's field diagnosis. Offenses are getting a taste of their own smoke-and-mirrors medicine.
With that comes the need for versatility in the secondary, placing an added emphasis on the likes of Devon Witherspoon, Julian Love and Coby Bryant to roam the second and third levels as do-it-all pieces to Durde and Macdonald's unit.
"I really felt like Spoon (Witherspoon) made a huge jump in the middle of the season, kind of understanding his fit and how we can play both," said Durde. "And I felt AJ (Finley) helped us when we came in, and once Ty Knight started playing from that 49ers game on he played good football.
"You see Coby Bryant, he was a corner in college and that skillset, being able to come and play back end allows you to have more coverage skills across the whole back end.
"Versatility is something that is needed in today's league because it's become more of a space game. Some teams will condense it, but it has become more of a space game and how they can create one-on-ones on players, even if you're on your own defense. And the versatility of players is super important, but Julian Love and Coby have done a great job of doing that."
Second-year head coach Macdonald succeeded Carroll last year in reward for turning his Baltimore Ravens defense into one of the league's most accomplished. A defining feature had been his use of Kyle Hamilton, who would exemplify the demands and requirements of a modern safety through the flexibility to serve in coverage, blunt the run and rush the passer.
At 6'3" and 220lbs, second-round draft pick Nick Emmanwori has drawn loose comparisons to Hamilton such is the size and versatility expected to see him fulfil multiple duties from a Big Nickel role. Emphasis on the 'loose'; Hamilton entered the NFL as one of the most gifted defensive prospects in recent memory in 2022. Emmanwori wasn't that, but the potential upside of another multi-faceted contributor stands true. Witherspoon himself could also yet evolve as one of the league's most elite and effective multi-purpose defensive backs.
"I think when you get players like that, you've got to be very careful on asking them to do too much too early, you know, because as simple as it looks on a piece of paper, 'oh, he can be the nickel here, he can be the safety here, he can be a dime-backer here," said Durde.
"You do all of that, that's a lot for the person. I kind of saw that as well with Micah (Parsons) at times, like it's cool to just move him in all these different places, but that's not that easy for the person.
"So I think making something simple for someone is the coach-to-player relationship and how that player is developed is super important in the early phase of his career.
"Nick has a great job with Jeff Howard (defensive backs coach) at the moment. And simplifying his world in a world where it does change is important."
Fangio's influence was underlined in February when his Eagles defense starred to dethrone the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LIX, Philadelphia's dominance up front resigning Patrick Mahomes to a torrid day in New Orleans. Sure, it helps to have a Jalen Carter.
Durde outlined the takeaways from the NFC champions' stout resistance on the road to Superdome glory.
"They've done a great job of condensing," said Durde. "When you have a player like Jalen Carter and I feel Milton Williams did the same thing, if you can get interior pressure fast and edges can collapse, and you can do that with four players, you're playing with an advantage.
"If you watch Philly they don't blitz that much. And if you really look at a lot of the defenses that have been good over a period of time, a lot don't blitz.
"Why is there such a premium on pass rush? It's because you can affect the quarterback with a group of players, you don't need to take someone out of coverage to do that. Philly did an extremely good job of that.
"And when that happens is you suddenly start turning the ball over, and you're going to change the game."
Seattle bolstered their own defensive front this offseason as Durde was reunited with former Cowboys lineman DeMarcus Lawrence, who he has backed to serve as more than a rotational late down pass rusher in what will be his 12th year in the league.
"I think D-Law is a great pass rusher. But I think he's an elite every-down defensive end," said Durde.
"He plays the run as well as he rushes the passer, and to me that's one of the most important reasons why I wanted him on there. He can affect the game on any down and that's not easy to do."
Durde and Macdonald's defense ranked among the league's most stingy across the second half of last season as it allowed fewer than 19 points per game on average while ranking sixth in EPA/play from their Week 10 bye onwards.
Having had a year to gel under Macdonald's complex system, it is a unit threatening to break out.
"I believed that in year one too," Durde said. "I think we've just got to stay consistent and we've got to really know who we are and lean on that. I think if we do that, we have a chance to show people what we can do."
