Seahawks could still lose exec to GM opening after all

It seemed like the Seattle Seahawks dodged a bullet when front office personnel Trent Kirchner and Scott Fitterer stayed with the organization after interviewing for the GM position with the San Francisco 49ers, but that was before the Indianapolis Colts fired Ryan Grigson. With the Colts looking for a new GM, they’re interviewing a small handful of candidates, and Kirchner, Fitterer happen to be among them.

The interviews are expected to happen Thursday. Here is what I wrote about them when they were interviewing with the 49ers:

Kirchner is experienced with GM interviews, having talked to the New York Jets in 2014 and the Detroit Lions in 2015. A co-director of player personnel (with Fitterer), Kirchner spent a large part of his career as a scout for the Carolina Panthers from 2002 to 2009 before joining the Seahawks in 2010, and working his way up to his current role beginning in 2015. He may deserve a lot of credit for scouting of players on other teams who came to Seattle, such as Marshawn Lynch, Michael Bennett, and Cliff Avril, while Fitterer was director of college scouting from 2011 to 2014 before the promotion, which is when the team added players like Richard Sherman, Russell Wilson, and Bobby Wagner.

Here is Kirchner talking with the Seahawks website before the draft last year and speaking about how important it is for the coaches to buy into the players that the front office selects, especially late round picks. That’s the type of relationship that it seems like Baalke never had with Jim Harbaugh, Jim Tomsula, or Chip Kelly, which led to the dysfunction in San Francisco that got them to 2-14 this season. It’s also why owner Jed York may want to hire a duo that’s already familiar with each other, like Cable and Kirchner, or Cable and Fitterer.