Aden Durde, the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive coordinator, has emerged as a prominent British coach in the NFL after a career that began in north London. His team’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers secured the NFC’s top seed and put Seattle on a path that could lead to the Super Bowl on 8 February.
Durde described a recent experience at Levi’s Stadium that brought home the scale of his progress. “I know it sounds crazy, but I kind of take little gratitude moments,” he said. “Like last week at the 49ers. The atmosphere was so electric. And to think where I am kind of blows me away sometimes.”
The Seahawks beat the 49ers 13-3 in that decisive regular-season finale, finishing 14-3 and earning a first-round bye and home-field advantage for the Divisional Round.
Born in Middlesex, Durde first played American football around Finsbury Park, appearing in the former NFL Europe league and spending time on NFL practice squads. After returning to the UK he worked as defensive coordinator for the amateur London Warriors, ran a company focused on young people outside mainstream education and provided voluntary mentoring in north London.
Durde has been active in supporting international talent and co-founded initiatives aimed at opening routes into the league. He said: “People message me from different countries and talk to me about football, about opportunities, about ways to get there, and at those times you remind yourself of where you came from.”
“It isn’t easy and hopefully one day it will be a lot easier.”
Durde and head coach Mike Macdonald have overhauled the Seahawks’ defensive unit since joining forces. Durde described his first season working with Macdonald as “a year of real growth, understanding and adapting” when the coaching staff “built a foundation, we got on the right path”.
The improvement has been measurable: after ranking near the bottom against the run and overall in 2023, Seattle climbed substantially and by the current season were among the league leaders. The defence is rated third-best against the run and has conceded the fewest points per game (17.2).
Durde explained the emphasis: “There’s a lot of defences that are middle of the table in the run game and still play excellent defence, they still stop points. But if you’re really trying to create an identity, a style of play, and you want to make it hard for everything [your opponents] do, it all starts with stopping the run. That’s been a focus point since we got here, and it’s been a stacking process as we go through.”
Seattle’s supporters — known as “the 12s” — are viewed as a significant factor in the team’s home advantage. Durde highlighted the way crowd noise affects games: “It’s really simple. Mike says it every day, ’12 as 1′. We want the teams that play us to feel like there’s 12 players on the field, that everyone’s running to the ball, everyone’s hitting the ball, everyone’s physical, everyone’s locked in. We echo that message and the guys are really turning into it.”
Reflecting on the power of the atmosphere at Lumen Field, he added: “People told me before I came here but you don’t understand it until you come. Like, on third down, with two minutes left, you can feel it in the ground. The Rams game in the fourth quarter, you could feel the crowd physically change the players. We got some third-down stops and it changed the momentum of the game. When the fans are behind you, it’s different, and I can’t wait to see it this weekend.”
With the Seahawks hosting the 49ers in the Divisional Round, Seattle may need to defeat familiar divisional rivals to reach Super Bowl 60. Durde has also been linked with head coaching interviews in the NFL, and the prospect of becoming the first British head coach in the league has been noted as a possible next step in his career.
On his current situation he said: “Right now, I’m having the time of my life,” followed by: “Like, honestly, if things happen, they happen. I feel like when you just go about your business, things change when they need to change.”
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