With Rick Dennison’s departure, the Seattle Seahawks have yet another opening to fill on their offensive staff.
CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported late Monday night the Las Vegas Raiders are hiring Dennison. The veteran coach served as run game coordinator and senior offensive advisor for the Seahawks last season.
“Dennison has 30 years of NFL coaching experience, including as an offensive coordinator with the Bills, Broncos and Texans,” wrote Zenitz.
Dennison has 30 years of NFL coaching experience, including as an offensive coordinator with the Bills, Broncos and Texans.
Dennison was in his first season with the Seahawks during 2025. In 2024, he coached with the New Orleans Saints as a senior offensive assistant after two years out of the league.
With the Raiders, Dennison will be joining former Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. Kubiak is the new Raiders head coach while Janocko will be Las Vegas’ offensive coordinator.
Seahawks Lose Another Offensive Assistant
The Seahawks were expected to lose Kubiak to the Raiders after the Super Bowl. NFL coordinators who depart for head coaching jobs often take other assistants with them too.
Therefore, it’s not shocking head coach Mike Macdonald is seeing a few departures from his offensive staff. But that doesn’t make it any less disappointing for Seahawks fans, especially after Macdonald touted wanting to make an internal hire at OC.
With Dennison, the Seahawks are losing an assistant whose NFL experience dates back to 1995. Dennison served in a variety of roles for the Denver Broncos for a decade and a half from 1995-2009 to begin his coaching career.
From 1997-2000, Dennison was the Broncos special teams coordinator. During that time, Denver won back-to-back Super Bowls.
Over the past 15 years, Dennison has been an offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills and Broncos. His second tenure in Denver was from 2015-16. The Broncos won their third Super Bowl in 2015.
Ironically, Dennison coached under Kubiak’s father, Gary, who was Denver’s head coach in 2015. Dennison and Gary’s relationship date back to the 1990s Broncos staffs.
Dennison first worked with Klint in Denver as well during the 2016 campaign. The two coaches also worked together with the Minnesota Vikings and Saints.
How Seahawks Replace Rick Dennison
The experience Dennison can provide an NFL coaching staff from an assistant coach role is rather valuable in the league. It’s also tough the Seahawks are losing three assistants all on the same side of the ball.
But if there’s any good news, the Seahawks are expected to retain the rest of their coaches from the 2025 Super Bowl team. Seattle may also have a replacement for Dennison already on staff.
“Seattle is poised to keep most of its coaching staff from 2025, most notably offensive line coach John Benton and defensive backs coach Karl Scott,” wrote SB Nation’s Field Gulls’ Mookie Alexander. “It’s unlikely we’ll see many more depart, whether it’s the Raiders or anyone else in the NFL.
“If Seattle wants to directly replace Dennison as a run game coordinator, Justin Outten could perhaps get a promotion from ‘specialist’ to coordinator outright.”
With Dennison as offensive run game coordinator, the Seahawks finished 10th in rushing yards during the 2025 regular season. Kenneth Walker became the first running back since Terrell Davis in 1998 to win Super Bowl MVP.
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