The Seattle Seahawks’ run to the Super Bowl has been built on an imposing defence, giving up the fewest points this regular season. And the architect of that success? A coach from Enfield, north London, who despite working in the NFL for close to a decade, is showing no sign of losing his accent.
“I look at him and he looks like he’s from Arkansas. I listen to him and he sounds like Winston Churchill,” is how Londoner Aden Durde was described by Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, when he worked for him in Texas.
In 2018 Durde became the first British coach to land a full-time coaching role in the NFL, joining the Atlanta Falcons. He took up the sport at 16, going on to play as a linebacker in the long-defunct NFL Europe for teams such as the Scottish Claymores and Hamburg Sea Devils in between spots on the practice squads of the Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL.
But it was as a coach that he really began to thrive, building on his work as a mentor and youth leader back in Enfield. He missed the game, so dived into working with the London Warriors, building up the belief that he could coach in the NFL if enough doors began to open.
There were stints with the Cowboys and the Falcons before he was hired full time in Atlanta as defensive quality control coach and outside linebackers coach. Then came a return to Dallas to coach the defensive line, working with the superstar pass rusher Micah Parsons. And then Durde’s big move, heading to Seattle to become defensive coordinator in 2024.
He had also helped to found the NFL’s International Player Pathway programme, giving players from other sports and countries the opportunity to make it in the NFL.
When they were children, Durde’s brother had a poster on his wall of the 1985 Chicago Bears defense, the “Monsters of the Midway”, led by Dan Hampton, Mike Singletary and William “The Refrigerator” Perry. His mother bought him a video of the Bears’ Super Bowl-winning season which he watched on repeat. Now, at 46, Durde is remarkably about to coach in a Super Bowl.
The players revere him. When DeMarcus Lawrence, the veteran Seahawks’ defensive end, decided it was time to leave his former team in the Cowboys, he followed Durde to Seattle. Leonard Williams, Seattle’s defensive end, spoke as highly about Durde’s ability to connect with players as his tactical abilities.
“It’s just his passion for the game,” said Williams. “He’s one of my favourite coaches. It’s the way he cares about the man that he’s coaching and I think as a player, it allows you to trust the coach when he shows so much passion and thought into who he’s coaching.”
Durde has been interviewed by the Cleveland Browns and Falcons for their head coach positions. His head coach at the Seahawks, Mike MacDonald, knows he may not be able to hold on to him for long.
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But for now, Durde will be zoned in on how to pressure New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye into mistakes and keep their rushing attack quiet. If Seattle’s quarterback, Sam Darnold, can match the precise performance he produced in the NFC Championship win over the Los Angeles Rams, then Durde’s defence can shut the game down and lead Seattle to a first Super Bowl win since 2014.
And if they do win? You can expect to hear Seattle players saying in questionable British accents: “We’ve won the Super Bowl!”
Photograph by AP Photo/Ben Van Houten