It is the season of change for the Seattle Seahawks. Not only did they replace Pete Carroll with Mike Macdonald as head coach, but practically the entire coaching staff was switched out as well… including the offensive coordinator position. This year, Seattle hired former University of Washington (and Alabama, for about a week) offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to be the one in charge of that side of the ball.
In a league where coordinators are turned over year to year, there has been decent job security in Seattle at this position. Grubb is only the third offensive coordinator in the last seven seasons, but I think it is safe to say he comes with the most excitement among fans. The Seattle faithful got to see what Grubb’s offense could do, as the Huskies fielded easily the best unit in the nation last year en route to the National Championship.
So far, Grubb is coming in with plenty of positive hype from fans… and his new quarterback. Geno Smith took to the media to sing Grubb’s praises.
Geno Smith describes how new #Seahawks coordinator Ryan Grubb’s system suits him: “I’m a drop-back passer,” and this is a drop-back offense.@thenewstribune pic.twitter.com/5v1MIIuRo5
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) May 22, 2024
It is not surprising Smith is finding himself in favor of Grubb’s system. While Smith does have hidden mobility, he definitely is more of a prototypical pocket passer when it comes to the quarterback position. This is a similar to description to former Washington (now Falcons) quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Penix could move, but he primarily stayed in the pocket and distributed the ball at a high level.
It worked out well for Penix, who threw for 9,544 yards and 67 touchdowns in the two years he played for Grubb.
Last year, Smith was better than his numbers might suggest. He set a new NFL record with five game-winning drives last year, as well as setting another record by throwing seven go-ahead touchdown passes in the fourth quarter/overtime. The Seahawks offense was terribly inconsistent, but Smith was not the primary concern.
Should Grubb find a way to get all his weapons proper usage, and have Smith distribute accordingly, this offense could go back to looking how it was in 2022… or perhaps greater.
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