NFL analyst names Seahawks' philosophical shift their best move of offseason

When Mike Macdonald took over as head coach after Pete Carroll, he made it sound like the Seattle Seahawks were about to become a hard-nosed, defense-focused, run-first kind of team - reminiscent of the contenders he helped coach as part of the Baltimore Ravens' staff the previous years. General manager John Schneider echoed the same sentiment, doubling down on the purported plans to establish a physical identity on offense.

Whether it was really the plan or not, it didn't take long for the Seahawks to abandon that idea. Instead, rookie offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb reverted to the pass-heavy game plan he employed at Washington, which did not work out nearly as well at the NFL level.

In the end Seattle had one of the five highest pass/run splits in the league and all the extra pressure (both the football kind and the mental kind) eventually broke down Geno Smith into something more resembling his time with the Jets.

And so this year they're back to preaching a run-the-ball approach. This time they've tasked new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak with leading the charge to shift their philosophy - for real this time. It's a change that Mike Sando at The Athletic calls the team's best offseason move.

"Klint Kubiak’s hiring as offensive coordinator closes a gaping philosophical gap between coach Mike Macdonald, who wants to win the old-fashioned way, and 2024 coordinator Ryan Grubb, whose offense ranked fourth in pass rate on early downs, including when tied or leading. Seattle can now proceed with a unified vision for how to play on offense, leaning into the run game under its defensive-minded head coach."

In theory this is great, but to some extent every play-caller has to work with the personnel he has. And right now you can't accurately call this Seahawks offensive line the kind of punishing unit that you can rebuild your franchise's identity around. We know Grey Zabel qualifies and when healthy Abe Lucas has the right kind of road-grader mentality that they say they want, but that's only one and a half starters out of five who really meet the criteria.

Until the Seahawks take upgrading that unit seriously, they'll keep coming back around to this every offseason - promising to do something they're in no position to pull off.