The Seattle Seahawks, who are still assembling Mike Macdonald’s original coaching staff, are looking to add a new quarterbacks coach to collaborate with Geno Smith. The Seahawks are anticipated to appoint veteran NFL assistant Charles London as their next quarterbacks coach, combining him with pass game coordinator Jake Peetz and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports. In 2023, the 48-year-old worked as the pass game coordinator in addition to coaching signal callers for the Titans.
After his playing career ended, London, who had played running back for Duke, immediately entered the coaching field, joining the Blue Devils as a graduate assistant in 2004. He was hired by the Bears in three years to work as an offensive quality control coach, a role he held on Lovie Smith’s staff for three seasons. After serving as an Eagles scout for a year, London took a one-year leave of absence from coaching and rejoined the Titans as an offensive assistant. He later spent two seasons coaching running backs at Penn State.
Returning to the NFL in 2014 under coach Bill O’Brien, he spent four seasons coaching running backs for the Texans before returning to the Bears to fill the same role from 2018 to 2020. After working on current Commanders coach Dan Quinn’s staff in 2020, London switched to teaching quarterbacks with the Falcons and was retained by new coach Arthur Smith. He worked as an assistant coach under Mike Vrabel in Tennessee last season, managing the progress of rookie quarterback Will Levis, who was selected in the second round out of Kentucky and went on to throw eight touchdowns in nine starts.
London is a perfect addition to a staff that already includes an offensive coordinator and head coach inexperienced in their roles. This is consistent with Macdonald’s hiring process thus far, as London brings extensive experience coaching multiple positions in addition to his backgrounds as a pass game coordinator and offensive quality control coach. Having trained under a number of outstanding head coaches in the NFL and college leagues, this may be the next step on his path to become a play caller.
London, who took over for Greg Olsen as the Seahawks’ quarterbacks coach, should benefit from his prior experience working with seasoned coaches like Matt Ryan and Ryan Tannehill as Smith is expected to be the starting quarterback again following Friday’s guarantee of his base pay. He performed admirably with both Levis and Desmond Ridder throughout their two seasons as rookies, and he may be a valuable asset should the organization choose to select a quarterback in the April selection.
With the NFL combine in less than two weeks, Macdonald has already assembled the majority of his offensive staff, though there are still a few jobs to fill. In addition to Grubb, London, and offensive line coach Scott Huff, it is reported that Seattle has hired Peetz as coordinator of the pass game, Kennedy Polamalu as coach of the running backs, and Frisman Jackson as coach of the receivers. This is an interesting group that combines a number of seasoned and inexperienced coaches.
