Two former offensive coordinators are joining Klint Kubiak in Seattle. The Seahawks are adding Justin Outten to their coaching staff, and Rick Dennison is believed to be joining him.
This will be a reunion among ex-Broncos, as Dennison coached with Gary Kubiak during both the latter’s Denver coaching stints (the latter of which involving Klint). Outten and Klint Kubiak were together on a rather memorable 2022 Broncos staff. Outten is coming aboard as a run-game specialist, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero.
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Dennison, who is following Klint from New Orleans (per the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta), received Saints permission to interview with the Seahawks, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo add. Teams can block contracted assistants from leaving, but with the Saints changing coaching staffs, it is not too surprising they let Dennison explore other options.
Although coordinators regularly have leeway to bring in assistants, the Seahawks signing off in reuniting the two right-hand men on offense during Nathaniel Hackett‘s disastrous Broncos season is interesting. Both Kubiak and Outten called plays at points that season, with Hackett initially going around Outten to give play-calling duties — as the Broncos struggled mightily in Russell Wilson‘s debut — to his QBs coach. After the Broncos fired Hackett, Outten called plays during the team’s final two games.
A former Packers staffer, Outten spent the past two seasons on the Titans’ staff. He served as Tennessee’s running backs coach and run-game coordinator in 2023 and was retained under new HC Brian Callahan last season, when he coached tight ends. The Titans had planned to move on this offseason. It appears this Seattle role will be closer to his 2023 position, as the Seahawks look to generate more from their run game after Mike Macdonald expressed concern about it upon firing OC Ryan Grubb.
Dennison, 66, has spent much of his career working with the Kubiaks. A teammate of Gary’s in the 1980s and ’90s with the Broncos, Dennison coached on Mike Shanahan‘s staff alongside his former teammate from 1995-2005. Dennison stayed in Denver after Kubiak landed the Houston HC job in 2006, replacing his colleague as Broncos OC. Kubiak then hired him as Texans OC in 2010. Dennison coached with Gary Kubiak again in Baltimore and back in Denver, where he reprised his role as Broncos OC from 2015-16. While Denver’s Super Bowl-winning team is best remembered for its defense, Dennison was a key presence during the one-year Kubiak-Peyton Manning overlap.
Dennison worked with both Kubiaks in Minnesota and then rejoined Klint as part of the 2024 Saints’ staff, serving as a senior offensive assistant. Dennison has been an NFL staffer for 28 years. While the Seahawks have 30-somethings at HC and OC, they now have two 60-somethings (Dennison, Leslie Frazier) as key advisors.
Additionally, the Seahawks are adding Michael Byrne to their staff as an offensive assistant. Byrne is also following Klint Kubiak from New Orleans and also worked with the new Seattle OC at Texas A&M during the early 2010s. An analytics-geared staffer, Byrne also spent time with Pro Football Focus.