Seahawks’ Jay Harbaugh, Rashid Shaheed making special teams a force

When the 2023 football season ended, Jay Harbaugh had a wide-open future and plenty of options.

There was a chance to stay at Michigan, where he had coached in several roles under his father Jim since 2015, the last five as special-teams coordinator.

There was a chance to go with his father to his new job as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.

Each provided a sense of comfort and security.

But when Mike Macdonald, who had just been named as the new head coach of the Seahawks, replacing Pete Carroll, called with an offer that might provide a risk but also something new, Harbaugh decided it was time to take a leap.

“It was just a really natural end to a chapter at Michigan and winning it all (against Washington in the 2024 CFP national championship) and my dad leaving and yearning for the next challenge,’’ Harbaugh, who is finishing his second year as the Seahawks’ special-teams coordinator, recalled this week.

Harbaugh, the eldest of Jim Harbaugh’s seven children, called working with his father “my dream come true.” But now at age 36, Jay Harbaugh could sense it was time to make his own name.

He’d first worked with Macdonald in 2014 with the Baltimore Ravens when Macdonald was a defensive coaching intern and Harbaugh an offensive quality control coach under his uncle John.

They also worked together in 2021 at Michigan.

That made Harbaugh an obvious candidate for Macdonald as he put together his initial Seahawks staff. But Macdonald said he also wanted to ensure he was getting the right man.

“You’re going into it for the first time, and you’ve got to be careful to try not to be like, ‘This is absolutely what we’re doing,’ ’’ Macdonald said. “You have to try to go into it a little bit more open-minded. Jay’s someone that, ever since we worked together in 2014, it’s like, ‘This guy’s a beast.’ Seeing him in action in Michigan with the responsibilities he had there, obviously just thought really highly of him.

“It’s a two-way street, too. Jay’s got a phenomenal family. That’s a big ask coming from Michigan, and then it might have been an opportunity somewhere else going on. We wanted to make sure it was a good fit for both of us. He’s a guy that we always wanted to work together with.”

Jay Harbaugh said it was ultimately too good to turn down.

“I have unbelievable confidence in him,’’ Harbaugh said of Macdonald. “And when someone like that, that you think really highly of is like, ‘Hey, join me on this,’ you’re like, ‘Man, absolutely. That means a lot.’ And you want to make them right and prove them right, and I take that very personally.’’

As his second season in Seattle nears its end – but with a lot still to play for – Harbaugh appears to have proven Macdonald right, as well as himself.

Under Harbaugh’s tutelage, Seattle’s special teams have been as pivotal of a factor as anything in the Seahawks’ 12-3 start.

The Seahawks are one of nine teams with punt returns for a touchdown this season and one of only two with multiple. Seattle is also one of just five teams that has a kickoff return for a touchdown and one of only three that has a kickoff return and punt return for a touchdown (the others being the Jets and Patriots).

The Seahawks are also one of only 14 teams that has a blocked field goal this year and one of only five that has two. They’re one of just eight teams that has a blocked punt, and one of only five that has a blocked field goal and punt.

But Seattle is the only team that has one of each: a kickoff return and punt return for a TD, and a blocked field goal and a blocked punt.

“It’s been a big game-changer,’’ said Macdonald, who also cites the work of assistant special-teams coach Devin Fitzsimmons as a key as well.

How big?

The influential football analytic site For the Numbers this week rated Seattle’s special teams second in the league behind the Jets, but rated each as among the 10 best in the NFL since 1978 through 15 games, calling each “historically good’’ units.

Each of Seattle’s last three wins turned on a special-teams play.

Rashid Shaheed’s 100-yard kickoff return for a TD to open the second half sparked an eventual 37-9 rout of Atlanta. Shaheed’s 28-yard kickoff return helped set up the winning field goal in an 18-16 win over the Colts. And Shaheed’s 58-yard punt return for a TD jump-started a rally from a 30-14 deficit to a 38-37 OT win over the Rams on Dec. 18.

But the special teams has done it from the start of the season. George Holani’s heads-up recovery of a loose-ball kickoff in the end zone for a TD keyed a 31-14 win over the Steelers in Week 2, and a D’Anthony Bell blocked punt and a Tory Horton punt return for a TD keyed a rout of the Saints in Week 3, to name a couple others. And kicker Jason Myers has two game-winners and was the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November.

Seattle got Shaheed in November, in part, to replace the injured Horton as a returner.

Shaheed was a Pro Bowler in 2023 as a returner and first-team All-Pro as a punt returner, so there was reason to think he’d be good.

“It’s really hard to be much more dynamic than your returner because there’s so much speed on the field and people will chase you down,” Harbaugh said. So it does make a difference having someone that is that fast.’’

Shaheed, though, throws some of his Seattle success back at Harbaugh, calling him “super smart’’ and “super prepared.’’

“I feel like the schemes here were a little more thought out (than on other teams he’s played for),’’ Shaheed said. “Against the opposing teams, we knew what we could succeed at going against them. We just come in each and every week, understand the game plan and understand what they want to do.’’

Harbaugh knows you’re only as good as your next game and can recall some struggles in his first season last year, notably a game against the Jets when Seattle lost two fumbles on kickoff returns (cutting each player the following week) and allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown but somehow won anyway.

Seattle’s special teams, though, graded out well most of last season – Pro Football Focus rated them sixth at season’s end – which seemed to show the process was good even if the results sometimes weren’t.

This year, the Seahawks are getting both.

“(It’s) been some really cool outcomes this year where those splash plays that you work so hard for help a win,’’ Harbaugh said. “… You’re always extra grateful for the plays that happen in those moments when it helps the team win because it just feels like you can really, really build on it.’’