Former Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai is slated to become the Seahawks’ associate head coach, a source confirmed Friday morning.
He won’t be their defensive coordinator, though. He interviewed with coach Pete Carroll for the position last month, but the job went to another former Bears assistant, Clint Hurtt.
Desai talked to multiple teams about their coordinator jobs — including the Giants, Raiders and Vikings — in the month since the Bears fired head coach Matt Nagy. Now he’ll head to only the second NFL team of his career.
He first joined the Bears as a defensive quality control coach in 2013. He was promoted to safeties coach in 2018 after the Bears denied Vic Fangio’s request to bring Desai with him to Denver. The Bears cast a wide net to find a new coordinator last offseason and settled on Desai, who’d never called plays before.
Desai acquitted himself well last year. Despite losing Khalil Mack to injury early in the season, the Bears allowed the sixth-fewest yards in the NFL — but ranked No. 22 in points allowed.
The Seahawks fired coordinator Ken Norton Jr. and defensive pass-game coordinator Andre Curtis last month. This week, the Bears added Curtis as their safeties coach.