Analyst shares bold take on future of Seattle Seahawks' second-year assistant

In his first year as the Seattle Seahawks' head coach, Mike Macdonald put together a mish-mashed staff with wildly varying levels of experience. Some have been assistants at this level for a long time, while others had yet to put in a single year at the NFL level.

Arguably the most questionable hire that Macdonald made was naming Jay Harbaugh as his special teams coordinator. While he was coming off a national championship at Michigan, it's also worth mentioning that his father was the head coach of that team, and regardless of whatever qualifications he may have had it's tough to dismiss charges of nepotism.

Harbaugh had a rough first year as the Seahawks' coordinator on special teams, where ghastly mistakes were common - contributing to one of the league's worst average starting field positions. For the year, they finished with one of the worst overall units in the league. By season's end some fans were openly wondering why he still had a job.

Nevertheless, some analysts believe Harbaugh may have a future as an NFL head coach, including the staff at Pro Football Network, which named Harbaugh Seattle's most likely future head coach.

PFN on Seahawks ST coordinator Jay Harbaugh

"We’ve seen the sons of NFL head coaches get jobs just about everywhere in the league. Though Harbaugh’s special teams unit in Seattle had some growing pains last year, he’s still just 36 years old and has plenty of years of coaching left ahead of him."

"Growing pains" is putting it a little too mildly. Aside from solid individual contributions from placekicker Jason Meyers and punter Michael Dickson, the Seahawks were a total mess in just about every special teams department last season.

There is definitely a chance that Harbaugh will learn from his experience and come out better in 2025 - and his last name certainly won't hurt his future employment opportunities in this league. That said, special teams coordinators very rarely get head coach consideration in general - even those that are the best at what they do. We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.