How Klint Kubiak fits like Seahawks’ new offensive coordinator and what’s coming next

Seattle Seahawks has hired Klint Kubiak as their offensive coordinator and completed the first step on their offseason house list.

Entering Year 2 As the main coach, Mike MacDonald goes with a more experienced play, calling to replace Ryan Grubb, who had not coached in the NFL before 2024. Kubiak, whose rent became official on Sunday afternoon, has called plays for Minnesota Vikings (2021) , Denver Broncos (half of the season 2022) and New Orleans Saints (2024).

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Seahawks hiring Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator

There was some risk associated with a first time head coach who hired a first time offensive game caller, as MacDonald did with Grubb, and there was obvious growing pain throughout the 2024 season. It is noteworthy that MacDonald has now hired someone of his own age (Kubiak will be 38 next month, four months before MacDonald), but with more experience in the NFL.

Kubiak coordinated the holy violation last year, which ranked 24. Fight (19.8), 23. In points per. Drive (1.82) and 22. Games (all statistics provided by Trumedia, unless otherwise stated). The saints scored 91 points in their first two matches and then fell into a funk – largely due to injuries – and ranked 31. In scoring from weeks 3 to 18. They suffered damage along the offensive line beyond extended absence from Quarterback Derek Carr, Do-It-All Weapon Taysom Hill and Recipients Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed.

Schematically, Kubiak’s Saints ran a very different violation than the Seahawks did by 2024. New Orleans was above the league average in the design Rushrate and put quarterback under the middle at the fifth highest rate. Seam The athletic‘S Ted Nguyen, who was detailed in September, placed Kubiak’s violation not much Presnap burden on quarterback. Conversely, Grubb deployed a pass-heavy, shotgun-based violation, and Quarterback Geno Smith had a lot of autonomy pre-snap in terms of audible and protection control.

After firing Grubb, MacDonald quoted a difference in the vision of the offense. He did not go into details, but in his assessments of the offense during the season he rarely expressed dissatisfaction with the shotgun (MacDonald said he would like to see his offense run more play-action concepts). The coach regretted the inconsistent running game, but also seemed more focused on efficiency than the raw volume. As for Quarterback’s responsibility on the line with review, MacDonald didn’t seem to have much of a problem that gives Smith the freedom to make changes before Snap.

So it is unclear whether Kubiak is asked to copy and paste in Seattle what he did last year with the saints (or the Vikings in 2021). The best offensive schemes are tailored to the players’ strengths, starting with quarterback. How Kubiak built the offense around Kirk Cousins ​​and Carr may not mirror the offense he constructs to Smith, provided he is a quarterback in 2025. The offensive line is also a major factor and the Seahawks have been especially talent shortages in this Area by years spanning several game callers.

“We want our violation to be a physical unit and dictate defense conditions, play complementary football and get the ball to our playmakers frequently and in the room,” MacDonald said on January 7. “And let our quarterback play quickly.”

Kubiak has three priorities such as Seahawks’ new offensive coordinator: Help the Offensive Line, which may be similar to this season’s line that prevents a turn in the teambuilding strategy; Solve the red zone problems; and use better dk metcalf. Kubiak’s ability to do the latter is something we might get from seeing the 2024 saints.

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The Saints’ best offensive weapons were Alvin Kamara. He is talented enough to excel in any scheme, but the way he can put his foot in the ground and generate explosive spectacles worked well with their surrounding driving.

Shaheed is an elite big-play threat on the outside. Despite playing in just six games, Shaheed had five receptions of at least 20 yards and two catches of at least 50, both touchdowns. As he went down, Marquez Valdes-scantling entered as the deep deep threat. Olave is a very skilled route runner who can consistently win one-on-one matches against man cover and wounded defense in the middle of the field. He had a productive year of doing both before suffering from a head injury in week 9.

Seahawks struggled to highlight their best players during Grubb. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a breakout season, but Tyler Lockett and Noah Fant were subsequently in the passing game. Metcalf had statistically a downturn, although MacDonald chalk it up to the Seahawks did not get him the ball enough and allowed teams to plan him out of play. Running back Ken Walker III had a few good games (against Broncos, Lions and Falcons), but was under -utilized most of the year. On a few occasions, Grubb admitted that he had to do a better job of getting the ball to Walker (against Giants) and Metcalf (against Packers).

Kubiak is perhaps an immediate upgrade if he can simply make the most of Seattle’s most explosive players. Lockett and Fant could be released or traded to save cap space, but it’s easy to imagine that Seahawks have a better unit in 2025 if they just get more production out of Metcalf and Walker, especially in the red zone.

A remaining question is what Kubiak’s rent means for the rest of Seattle’s offensive staff. MacDonald said on January 7th that any additional staff changes would be sorted after the new offensive coordinator arrived. Kubiak likes the staff, as it is or with MacDonald’s approval, prefer to bring in various race and passed game coordinators or a new offensive line trainer to replace Scott Huff.

The Seahawks expected to compete for the NFC West title and at least do the playoffs in 2024. They came under both goals for the second season in a row, and the violation was a big part of the problem. Seattle never established much of an identity, started games slowly, had a lot of operational problems, and did not perform well situated out of two minutes of exercises.

These are some of the areas with weight for Kubiak when he takes over for Grubb. Seattle feels it has the talent of offense to compete with the best when everything clicks. It is at Kubiak to bring make sure it happens by 2025.

(Photo: Stephen Lew / Imag- Pictures)