Tag: Ryan Grubb

DK Metcalf: Ryan Grubb’s offense has the ‘potential to be special’

To reach its full potential, this scheme needs DK to finally live up to his.

Seattle Seahawks beat reporters got to speak with three players before yesterday’s mandatory minicamp practice at the VMAC. First up was star wide receiver DK Metcalf, who hadn’t been seen around the building tyet his offseason. So, this was the media’s first chance to ask Metcalf about the big coaching changes the team has gone through this year.

While Metcalf admitted that seeing Pete Carroll get fired was a sad moment, he’s also excited about working with new head coach Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. Asked about the effectiveness of Grubb’s new scheme, Metcalf said he likes the explosiveness and that the offense has the potential to be great.

To reach its full potential, this scheme needs DK to finally live up to his. While he’s been a consistently strong performer since he was drafted in 2019, Metcalf has the gifts he needs to be one of the top-five wide receivers in the NFL, but as of yet he’s at-best been a fringe top-10 producer. If Grubb can unleash Metcalf’s inner elite WR and get him competing at a focused peak-Julio Jones type of level, it’s going to be very tough to stop this passing game.

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With the right leadership this should be a playoff team.

If these last couple of seasons it seemed like the Seahawks underachieved, you’re not alone in that sentiment. Despite having a loaded roster with a mix of young talent and reliable veterans, they only finished with a 9-8 record each of the last two years. For what it’s worth, we had been projecting an 11-6 record for the 2023 campaign.

What held them back more than anything was Pete Carroll’s refusal to adapt to new methods – especially as it concerns fourth down decisions. Too many close games were lost because Carroll preferred to punt or kick field goals rather than being aggressive and going for it in those situations. On the other side of the ball, Carroll changed his scheme but still had the most zone-heavy defense in the league and almost never used post-snap movement to confuse opposing quarterbacks.

Looking ahead, Seattle fans should at least be hopeful that we will see those things change under the direction of offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and head coach Mike Macdonald, who will be calling plays on defense at least at the beginning of the season.

With the right leadership this should be a playoff team, because there’s plenty of talent to go around. Here’s what PFF had to say about Seattle’s situation going into mandatory minicamp.

“New head coaches often have to walk into reclamation projects. That’s not the case for Mike Macdonald in Seattle. He has a solid starting quarterback in Geno Smith, whose 82.1 passing grade ranked 12th in the NFL last season. Of course, Smith has a bevy of weapons to work with, including DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Kenneth Walker III… Macdonald, though, is a defensive coach and has no shortage of talent on that side of the ball. Stellar cornerbacks Devon Witherspoon and Tariq Woolen headline the secondary. Leonard Williams and first-round pick Byron Murphy II provide an excellent interior duo. Tyrel Dodson is an interesting name to watch at linebacker after he led the position with a 90.2 overall grade last season. With the talent on his roster, Macdonald should have postseason expectations in his first year at the helm.”

A playoff berth is a reasonable goal for this team going into 2024. Unfortunately, getting past the wild card round is likely to be a tall task given the gap between Seattle and the other contenders around the NFC – especially the 49ers – who have the league’s best roster this year according to PFF, while the Seahawks are in the middle of the pack. It’s going to take time to catch up with all the talent San Francisco has no matter what Grubb or Macdonald do schematically.

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As exciting as Metcalf and the rest of this up-and-coming roster is, the real stars this year may be on the sidelines rather than on the field.

The Seahawks will be kicking off their mandatory minicamp tomorrow, and it will run through Thursday. This should offer our first chance this offseason to see DK Metcalf and the rest of the team’s stars who sat out (voluntary) OTAs over the last couple of weeks. As exciting as Metcalf and the rest of this up-and-coming roster is, the real stars this year may be on the sidelines rather than on the field.

Since the last time they played a game, Seattle has completely turned over the depth chart at linebacker and safety, reloaded in the trenches and exchanged one backup quarterback for another. However, the single biggest change has been one of leadership, with Mike Macdonald taking over as head coach after 14 years of Pete Carroll. The brightest gem on Macdonald’s 24-deep coaching staff is offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who was arguably the best playcaller in college football the last couple of years at the University of Washington.

Heading into minicamp, Kevin Patra at NFL.com chose how Grubb’s offense looks as the top storyline for Seattle.

“We won’t get the complete picture in minicamp, but the former UW offensive coordinator taking over in Seattle provides intrigue. Seattle sports one of the top wide receiver trios in the NFL in DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Tyler Lockett. I expect JSN to play a more significant role in Grubb’s offense this season. The other big question is how much of the power run game will be used. Grubb enters the NFL known for his pass offense, but his run game is just as creative and should open lanes for Kenenth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet. With new offensive coordinators dotting the NFL landscape, Grubb’s system might be the most interesting to track entering the season.”

As Patra mentions, we won’t really get to see this offense at work until September – remember that preseason offenses are nothing if not vanilla and don’t represent what we’ll see when the real games begin at all.

It is something to look forward to, though. The last few years this franchise has been held back by Pete Carroll’s reluctance to fundamentally change his approach to the game. Hopefully we’ll see a different, more dynamic and more aggressive approach under Macdonald and Grubb. Time will tell.

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ESPN: Seahawks have liked QB Sam Howell ‘for an awful long time’

ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter was a guest on the Wyman and Bob show a few days ago on Seattle Sports radio.

ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter was a guest on the Wyman and Bob show a few days ago on Seattle Sports radio. Schefter shared some thoughts about where the Seahawks are heading this year, saying he sees them as a playoff contender. He also commented on the quarterback situation, where he thinks the franchise believes in Geno Smith, who has an advantage over Sam Howell when it comes to familiarity with the skill players.

Smith remains firmly at the top of the team’s depth chart at quarterback going into the 2024 season However, Schefter also says the front office has had their eye on Howell for some time:

“But I also think that Sam Howell is somebody that they’ve liked for an awful long time. And Sam Howell is a guy who, when you talk to people around the league, they believe in his abilities and talent and I think the Seahawks did as well. And I remember his name coming up within that organization last season during the year as a guy that they were intrigued with. And I think that they continue to be intrigued by the guy.”

This is a pretty familiar refrain we have heard about other quarterbacks who have gone on to become superstars. Years later, we learned the Seahawks were big fans of both Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, who are now the top two starters in the league. It’s easy to claim that in hindsight, though.

Clearly they do like Howell, though – otherwise they likely would have drafted a quarterback in the loaded 2024 class. The only way to find out if Howell has a higher ceiling than we saw last season with the Commanders is to give him serious playing time.

Looking ahead, there’s a possibility Seattle will want to give Howell a chance to lead their offense under Ryan Grubb. If that doesn’t end up happening in 2024, the team could save a ton of cap room by cutting Geno Smith ($25 million) next offseason.

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Ryan Grubb says new Seahawks offense is nearly 50% installed

Ryan Grubb says new Seahawks offense is nearly 50% installed

The Seattle Seahawks are ramping up under their new coaching staff, which includes offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. Grubb, who was formerly with the University of Washington (and Alabama, for like a week), moves from the Montlake to Renton to help another Seattle-based football team.

Fortunately for the 12th Man, Grubb seems confident that the team is “right on schedule” when it comes to installing his new offense. An offense, mind you, which was the best in the country for the last two years and made it to the National Championship. Grubb recently spoke with the media about where the Seahawks offense was at:

“I would say we are closing in on 50% of our installation… I think early on we tried to do a good job on both sides of the ball of getting some of the critical exchanges and all the things we need to know and understand about the nuances and broad vision of the offense. Once you feel good about that, continue to build on that and move on—I think the guys have done a really good job, especially in the last week and a half, of getting that where we could feel good about building on top of some of those things.”

Both of Grubb’s top two quarterbacks, Geno Smith and Sam Howell, have praised his offense. Smith and Howell have described the system as “quarterback friendly,” as well as being favorable to Smith’s drop back style of play.

Now Grubb has another quarterback in the mix with P.J. Walker, who was recently signed to the Seahawks.

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Nobody would know better than the guys who have to face that unit every day in practice.

The Seahawks roster will be largely the same as last year at the positions that matter most in 2024. Improvement will have to come from their new coaching staff, and that’s reason for Seattle fans to be hopeful. Head coach Mike Macdonald is arguably the top defensive playcaller in the league, while offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb could claim to be the best offensive playcaller in college football the last couple of years.

Nobody would know better than the guys who have to face that unit every day in practice. Here’s a clip of Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen talking to Bump and Stacy about facing Grubb’s offense in practice and how much better it is compared to last year.

You can listen to the full interview here:

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Ryan Grubb admits Seahawks have work to do on offensive line

Finding a way to bridge that gap will be perhaps the most challenging aspect of Grubb’s job this season.

Seahawks beat reporters got to interview all three of the team’s new coordinators after yesterday’s open OTAs practice at the VMAC. First up was offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who comes to Renton by way of UW. At the University of Washington Grubb led one of college football’s most exciting offenses over the last two years. However, one big difference between that gig and this one is the offensive line.

Whereas the Huskies had one of the nation’s best units up front, the Seahawks have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. Finding a way to bridge that gap will be perhaps the most challenging aspect of Grubb’s job this season. He’s well aware of that and admitted to reporters that the unit has a ways to go, especially the right side.

Specifically, the right side of the line is currently missing two of our projected starters. First there’s Charles Cross at left tackle, Laken Tomlinson at left guard and Olu Oluwatimi at center, all as expected. The problems begin at right guard, where right now 2023 undrafted free agent McClendon Curtis has been taking snaps with the first-team unit. Meanwhile, at right tackle George Fant is starting in place of Abe Lucas, who remains sidelined by the knee that he had surgery on this offseason.

Curtis and Fant may end up surprising us all by becoming reliable starters, but Grubb pointing out the issues on the right side isn’t a great sign. The team has to hope that Lucas will be able to play most of the season after sitting out 11 games last year due to chronic knee pain. In those matchups the right side of the offensive line frequently buckled under pressure, putting a low lid on what Seattle’s passing game could accomplish.

There’s also the question of who’s going to start at right guard. After the Seahawks picked him in the third round of the draft, we were projecting that Christian Haynes out of UConn would be starting between right tackle and center. However, Haynes has been working with the second-string unit so far this offseason.

That suggests Anthony Bradford is first in line at right guard, which inspires even less confidence than Fant at RT. Last season Bradford was the lowest-graded offensive player on Seattle’s roster according to PFF, posting a putrid 38.9 grade in pass blocking and a mediocre 58.5 in run blocking.

PFF grades may be subjective but Bradford’s overall play was not difficult to read. If both Bradford and Curtis are ahead of Haynes on the depth chart that raises multiple concerns. Hopefully this all gets sorted out by Week 1 and we’ll see Christian Haynes at right guard and Abe Lucas next to him. If not, Seahawks fans might be in for another long season.

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Mike Macdonald praises Jaxon Smith-Njigba for his practice habits

Mike Macdonald praises Jaxon Smith-Njigba for his practice habits

This past spring, the Seattle Seahawks had a “meat and potatoes” style draft. Nearly every single one of their picks was related to their offensive and defensive fronts. While this was clearly an “unsexy” foundational draft, that’s not to suggest the much flashier 2023 draft didn’t have some substance themselves!

One such pick was wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the first receiver taken off the board. The Seahawks impressed the 12’s by selecting such a big name and flashy, fun player in the first round. JSN may have taken some time to get going, but his 63 receptions for 628 yards and four touchdowns were perfectly reasonable for a rookie behind both Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.

Now it’s time to grow. JSN will be entering into his second year, and his first under the new system of offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. Will there be somewhat of a sophomore slump for the Ohio State standout? Head coach Mike Macdonald doesn’t seem to think so, as he had nothing but praise for his young receiver.

Praise for JSN’s work ethic and practice habits was something Pete Carroll raved about during last season. In the preseason, JSN actually injured his wrist but still practiced in a cast.

It is encouraging to know his habits aren’t changing after only a year in the league and a taste of the high life. Here’s hoping it will translate to a noticeable leap on the field.

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Sam Howell on Ryan Grubb’s ‘quarterback friendly’ offense

Sam Howell on Ryan Grubb’s ‘quarterback friendly’ offense

Perhaps the most intriging coaching hire the Seattle Seahawks have made, aside from head coach Mike Macdonald of course, is offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. After a few years of the explosive, yet wildly inconsistent offense led by Shane Waldron, the 12th Man is excited to see what Grubb can do at the professional level.

For two years, the Seattle faithful have gotten to know Grubb since he was the offensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies. Under Grubb, quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was argubaly the best in the nation, as the Huskies offense ripped apart almost every defense they faced en route to the National Championship last season.

Starting quarterback Geno Smith has already praised Grubb’s offense, and he isn’t alone. Recently acquired quarterback Sam Howell also took to the media to discuss what has impressed him about his new system.

Speaking of intriguing, Sam Howell certainly qualifies with such a description. Instead of drafting a quarterback, the Seahawks opted to trade for Howell from the Washington Commanders. Howell had 21 touchdowns against 21 interceptions last year, but certainly showed plenty of flash on an abysmal Commanders team.

There are those who believe Howell has plenty of untapped potential. Only time will tell if he will get to live up to said potential under Ryan Grubb.

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Watch: Scott Huff coaches up Seahawks backfield with offensive line

Apparently this wasn’t a thing during the Pete Carroll era.

Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth. A similar line could apply to calling plays in the NFL: everyone’s got a call until the offensive line completely breaks down and the quarterback has to either improvise or get obliterated. That was certainly the case for much of the last two seasons as Geno Smith was pummeled and pressured at a high rate compared to his competitors – especially on third down.

While he’s done a magnificent job of adjusting to the situation and avoiding sacks, Smith can only do so much and arguably only Patrick Mahomes is better at evading pressure these days. For this offense to reach its potential under new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb the offensive line – especially the pass protection – has to improve a lot.

Under Pete Carroll the offensive line was a blind spot, given seemingly little thought and resources even as it proved to be Seattle’s Achilles heel season after season. While Russell Wilson’s unique brand of ball had something to do with that, poor pass blocking has been an issue all along – even when they had the most expensive OL in the league when they won it all.

Good news – these new-look Seahawks are at least trying different things than the former regime. Watch offensive line coach Scott Huff coaching up the first-team OL unit along with Geno Smith and Ken Walker in the backfield. They look to be working on getting everyone’s timing on the same page. Apparently this wasn’t a thing during the Carroll era, per Gregg Bell.

Running the ball well is part of any healthy offense, even ones that are pass-heavy like those Grubb and Huff led during their time together at Washington. Opening up lanes for Ken Walker will help. Whether he actually uses them is another story, but we’re hopeful that this coaching staff will get Walker playing more disciplined while not throwing out his electrifying ability to flip the field, which is as good as anyone in football.

Seattle’s woeful pass protection is the real x-factor, though. If that part of the game doesn’t improve a great deal compared to the last two seasons then 9-8 is going to remain this team’s ceiling. Until we see it in a live regular season game, consider us skeptical that it’ll actually happen.

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