PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Seattle Seahawks are within the midst of a full-blown transformation on offense. With the 2025 NFL draft nonetheless three weeks away and extra additions within the offing, they’ve already changed their beginning quarterback and two of his high three receivers. They’re going to be operating a brand new scheme by a brand new coordinator, Klint Kubiak, who introduced a number of handpicked assistants with him.
That sea change was on the coronary heart of a query to second-year coach Mike Macdonald, who was requested Tuesday on the annual league conferences whether or not their offense has improved.
“I feel it is totally different,” he mentioned. “I imply, we’ve an extended technique to go. We now have totally different gamers within the constructing, and we’re actually enthusiastic about these guys. However as a soccer staff, we’ve to do an awesome job all through the offseason program of putting in our course of once more, not skipping steps, being linked as a soccer staff, doing all of the issues the precise means so we hit the bottom operating in September. However you possibly can’t consider the place we’re in comparison with final yr as a result of there’s so many various items.”
The Seahawks seemed to be headed for merely a retool on offense, but it surely grew to become a rebuild when common supervisor John Schneider traded quarterback Geno Smith and star receiver DK Metcalf in a span of three days earlier than the beginning of free company. These surprising strikes adopted the anticipated launch of Tyler Lockett, the second-most prolific go catcher in franchise historical past. Schneider then signed Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling as their respective replacements.
The query posed to Macdonald is finest answered by viewing the large image, as a result of that new trio is arguably much less proficient than the outdated one.
Ove the previous two seasons, Darnold began 14 fewer video games than Smith and had a better touchdown-to-interception ratio (2.8 in contrast with Smith’s 1.7) and off-target proportion (13.8% in contrast with Smith’s 12.3%). For the reason that starting of 2023, Metcalf and Lockett mixed for 65 video games, 55.4 receiving yards per sport, 3,600 receiving yards, 20 touchdowns and 982 yards after catch. In the identical time-frame, Kupp and Valdes-Scantling mixed for 54 video games, 40.2 yards per sport, 2,173 receiving yards, 16 touchdowns and 818 yards after catch.
Regardless of the numbers, the Seahawks are hoping to nonetheless be higher off for these swaps when factoring monetary financial savings, scheme matches, staff tradition in addition to the second- and third-round picks they added within the Metcalf and Smith trades.
Darnold’s three-year, $105.5 million deal pays him $37.5 million in 2025. The Seahawks despatched Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders for the 92nd total choice as soon as they deemed him unwilling to interact in contract talks after their preliminary supply. It included $40 million in Yr 1, in keeping with sources conversant in the negotiations, a determine that simply might have grown had negotiations progressed.
However when Smith balked, Schneider and Macdonald pivoted to Darnold, who was coming off a Professional Bowl season with the Minnesota Vikings and had a earlier relationship with new offensive coordinator Kubiak from the yr they spent along with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023.
“You come from all these totally different angles from folks within the constructing which have labored with him even all the best way again to his USC days and actually, to a person … they love the particular person, they love the chief, the teammate,” Macdonald mentioned. “The movie sort of speaks for itself together with his accuracy, in a position to push a ball down the sector. Particularly with us, we transfer the pocket a great bit now, so Sam’s an awesome thrower on the run and he is in a position to make numerous performs that means after which in these important downs within the purple zone and third down, particularly final yr, he had such an awesome yr and that we’ll be relying on him to come back by in these conditions.”
Metcalf had been sad in Seattle earlier than he requested a commerce final month, which led the Seahawks to ship him to the Pittsburgh Steelers in alternate for the 52nd total choice and a swap of late-round picks. In line with staff sources, he had requested out a number of instances in current offseasons. That was an element the Seahawks needed to weigh along with the inherent danger in giving him an enormous third contract just like the four-year, $132 million extension he obtained from Pittsburgh.
That deal pays Metcalf $35 million this season. Lockett was set to make $17 million if he stayed with the Seahawks. Kupp’s three-year, $45 million deal pays him $17.5 million in 2025 whereas Valdes-Scantling will make $4 million on his one-year deal.
Schneider mentioned Kupp had three or 4 groups who had been fascinated about signing him, and that the Yakima, Washington, native “wished to come back house.” The final supervisor known as it “an enormous get for us.”
“You could possibly have him coated on paper, however he is nonetheless going to get open,” Macdonald mentioned of Kupp, a one-time Professional Bowl choice. “That is one thing that you need to expertise in-game. So he is a man that you need to account for in numerous the possession downs and high-leverage conditions the place you have to have two guys on this man. It is slightly bit totally different than some straight-line vertical guys the place you need extra of a high-low double, you need them surrounded as a lot as doable and also you’re allocating sources over there. It sort of shifts the place the stress factors are in the remainder of the sector. So yeah, he is a ache within the butt.”
The Seahawks might nonetheless add a receiver early within the draft, however for now, Valdes-Scantling initiatives because the No. 3 behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Kupp. The veteran deep risk spent the second half of final season enjoying for Kubiak with the New Orleans Saints.
“You’ll be able to actually take a look at their offense final yr in New Orleans and sort of image it now, particularly with MVS being right here,” Schneider mentioned. “We thought it was going to be DK, however right here we’re, so now MVS is the take-the-top-off man, JSN can take the highest off after which Cooper provides us a deceptively quick dude working the center of the sector, setting folks up. These two guys working with one another are going to be actually arduous to defend with the tight splits and every part.”
The inside of the Seahawks’ offensive line stays a serious query mark. The staff was ready to spend large cash on guard Will Fries earlier than he signed with the Vikings, however he was the one high-priced veteran lineman they had been planning to pursue. They’ve visited with lower-cost choices resembling Teven Jenkins, Dillon Radunz and Lucas Patrick, who later signed elsewhere.
“We introduced a number of guys by and it simply hasn’t been a match,” he mentioned.
The shortage of urgency to handle the inside spots is tied to the staff’s confidence in its younger in-house choices over the accessible veterans, which, in keeping with Schneider, is shared by each the teaching workers and personnel division. He believes these gamers might be in higher positions to achieve Kubiak’s scheme — with its emphasis on the outsize zone dashing assault and under-center performs — than they had been in former coordinator Ryan Grubb’s pass-first, shotgun-heavy offense, which completed twenty first in scoring and 14th in yards final yr.
Schneider volunteered that it will likely be arduous to search out an improve at middle within the draft given how the Seahawks do not view this yr’s class as being significantly robust at that place. That means their finest probability at discovering a blue-chip expertise for brand new line coach Mike Benton’s unit might be at guard. Schneider continues to be open to including a veteran lineman in some unspecified time in the future, however he mentioned it in all probability would not occur till after the draft, and that it could possibly be somebody who turns into accessible as a cap casualty.
The Seahawks have 5 picks within the high 92 and 10 picks whole. OverTheCap.com estimates their accessible cap house at properly over $30 million. So whether or not it is by the draft or the veteran market, Schneider and Macdonald could have ample sources to maintain their offensive transformation going.
