SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Sometimes coaching players means listening to players.
Seahawks defensive line coach Justin Hinds is one of the NFL’s most blessed assistant coaches — handed veterans DeMarcus Lawrence (12th season), Leonard Williams (11th season) and Jarran Reed (10th season) — but that doesn’t mean he works on Easy Street.
If anything, Hinds works harder to make sure he earns respect from a group that can identify a fraud.
“If you want to be a good coach, have good players. That’s where it starts,” Hinds told The Post. “But it’s a give and take — they pour into me and I pour into them. The best thing about them is they allow you to coach them. The hard thing is, if you go into a room and your veterans are uncoachable, it creates friction and then you lose as a young coach.”
Hinds is a Woodbridge, N.J., native who coached more than a decade of college football before he latched on as Bears assistant defensive line coach in 2022.
“If you have violence with technique, you have a chance,” Hinds said. “Effort is nonnegotiable. And you play together and play off each other. Those four things lead to success. All the guys in our room exemplify that. If you don’t, you stand out.”
Hinds was hired to lead his own position group in 2024 — on a recommendation from Leslie Frazier, a mentor through a minority coaching fellowship — and that defensive line became the backbone of The Dark Side defense that Sunday night led the Seahawks to victory in Super Bowl 2026.
“I’m proud of the coach he is,” Williams said. “We have a great combination of younger guys and older guys in our room. He’s learning from some of the older guys, and he’s teaching us things as well. He’s been great to have.”
While Byron Murphy, Boye Mafe and Derick Hall make big contributions on their rookie contracts, Lawrence, Williams and Reed combine for 169.5 regular-season sacks. The commonality is none of the six had been to the Super Bowl before this playoff run.
“They’ve seen more NFL football than me,” Hinds said. “There’s a way that I learned to develop. We come together and build this thing the right way with the information that we have. There’s an easier way than A-B-C-D for some of them. Everyone is coached fairly, but not the same.”
Hinds was shaped by his New Jersey roots.
“You have to have some toughness to you,” Hinds said. “You have to be assertive because if you sit back on your heels, you are not going to get what you want or what you need. It teaches you your rules of engagement on players that might be confrontational. It may be better to not yell at this guy in front of everybody. Let’s have a little side conversation.”
Working under a defensive-minded head coach (Mike Macdonald) and England-born coordinator Aden Durde has been a benefit, too.
“A.D.’s learned defensive line in a way that I just haven’t — very abstract, very unique, very creative. He’s helped me think faster in the moment,” Hinds said. “Studying under Mike, I now see the game from a full-fledged lens.”
