Over the past few days, it has been quite a news cycle for Seattle Seahawk fans. On Sunday afternoon, it was reported that the Mike Macdonald and the Seattle Seahawks finally settled upon their new offensive coordinator who will replace Ryan Grubb. Two days prior to that, it was announced to the world that 73 year old Pete Carroll would take over the Las Vegas Raiders head coaching gig. I think both news events are worth touching on here, and I also think there’s a chance that both fronts could have impact on each other in the coming months, and I will explain later.

Firstly, here are my collected thoughts on Mike Macdonald choosing former New Orleans Saints coordinator Klint Kubiak for the gig here. On the surface, I like the move a lot, and I believe it felt inevitable for a while that he would be the guy chosen here to replace Ryan Grubb.

Kubiak is an experienced play caller who has been a coach in the league for sometime now. He’s also got strong NFL bloodlines with his dad Gary being a former NFL quarterback, coordinator, and Super Bowl winning head coach, and his philosophy is strongly tied to the Mike Shanahan system that has retaken the league in recent years. It is clear that based on most of the candidates that Seattle was interviewing, they had particular interest in the Shanahan system, and by extension of it, the Sean McVay system. Arguably, they got the top available person on the market to agree to come here to incorporate it. Bravo. Of the list of known candidates who interviewed with this team, I preferred Kubiak.

Personally, I wasn’t super stoked about the prospects of Seattle hiring the Detroit Lions offensive line coach to come out here to OC. I loved what the Lions offense has turned into over the past couple years, but for this gig out here, I needed an experienced NFL play caller. Maybe Hank Fraley will blossom into a sharp offensive play caller someday, but after one year with Ryan Grubb, and two years of Shane Waldron, I kinda needed Mike Macdonald’s choice to be someone who has been around the league for a while and has experience play calling against NFL defenses. Of the persons they interviewed, I kinda needed it to be Klint Kubiak.

And I totally get it if this selection does not wow you. Seattle has toiled with being good enough to compete for the playoffs but not good enough to win in them for nearly a decade now since their back to back Super Bowls. They aren’t a bad NFL team, but they aren’t an A Lister organization currently, either. So, I get it that when any move they make, it is likely to be met with a bit of a toxic skepticism from some fans, and I anticipate that there will be sorts who will look at Kubiak and his stints in Minnesota and Nola, and not be fully embracing of the hire.

My feelings on this front, is that if there is push back on this hire from fans, it likely is reflective of folks who are tired of Seattle being middling more than anything else. At this time last year, Seattle had just hired Mike Macdonald who many thought was the brightest young head coaching candidate out there, and then it was seen that they pulled off a coup by luring popular UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to pair with him. Diehard Husky fans poured over promises to Seahawk fans just how special and dynamic Grubb would make this offense become with its power trio of receivers and Geno Smith, but the reality was that he was not ready to match wits against NFL defenses on a consistent basis, and he had to be babysat by coaches working under him at times, per reports.

So, I think this is very much an important hire for Seattle, and it is perhaps their biggest move of the offseason, if they do not make major changes to their personnel. They have to get this hire right by Kubiak, or fan discontent will only grow. That is the risk they made when they decided to move on from the legend of Pete Carroll for the young upside of Mike Macdonald.

But many fans are growing more tired of Seattle being in the middle of the pack. I get that. It has been four years since they last won their division, and it has been five years since they last won a playoff game. I feel your frustrations.

You want them to be more than what they are, and you might even be a bit more frustrated that they simply don’t tear it all down to struggle at the bottom for a while in order to built themselves up with a bunch of lottery picks from the NFL Draft. I get it.

The trouble is that the teams that tend to often pick in the top five or ten of the draft, usually routinely suck as clubs. These are the Jets, the Giants, Jaguars, Browns, Titans, and Cardinals. They tend to give up on quarterbacks too early, and coaches too fast, and it is a rinse and repeat vicious cycle for them.

Seattle is not that sort of organization. They strive to be competitive every year much like the Pittsburgh Steelers. They moved on from Pete Carroll last year when everyone assumed that they would replace him with a bright young offensive minded head coach, and they took another defensive minded head coach simply because he was the guy they believed was the best overall coach out there. The result was ten wins. This feels very much like Seattle.

Now they have paired Macdonald with a coordinator who, while maybe not the flashiest, comes from a balanced run married with play action system that will be more aligned at what Macdonald wants to do. For all those who will be likely to doubt his success here, he had a fair degree of success coaching this system in Minnesota getting a bright play out of Kirk Cousins, and his first two games of 2024 down in Nola proved spectacular before the swarm of injuries hit his offensive personnel. While there is no guarantee that Kubiak is going to be a big hit here, I think it is also true that the book is not fully out on him yet as a coach. This is where I think his pedigree matters.

He is the son of Gary Kubiak who has coached highly productive offenses throughout the league in Houston, Denver, Baltimore, and Minnesota. In fact, Mike Macdonald was in Baltimore when Gary coached Joe Flacco in 2014, and the Ravens had the most explosive attack in the league, and Flacco had his best statistical year as a passer. I am positive that when Grubb was fired, Macdonald likely thought of Klint Kubiak probably right off the bat by witness to what his father had accomplished.

Klint Kubiak also comes to this staff with Super Bowl experience being Brock Purdy’s QB coach in San Fransisco the year before last when they went to the Super Bowl and Purdy looked like the second coming of Joe Montana. Personally, I think it matters that our new OC has a deep background in coaching QBs and it appears that Klint it pretty good at it.

For the sake of throwing a little spicy speculation into this hire, I think it is worth pointing out that should Seattle choose to be a surprise team in the offseason pursuing Sam Darnold, well, Darnold was QB2 for San Francisco two years ago, and thus he probably knows very well what Kubiak plans to run here, and Kubiak knows him well. If Seattle’s front office has a desire to get younger at quarterback than Geno Smith, and Kubiak has a desire to bring in a quarterback who knows his system pretty well, I wouldn’t totally brush off this idea of Darnold coming in. I have been outwardly speculating about Seattle perhaps being interested in him for a while, and this hire of Kudiak only adds to the fuel behind those thoughts I hold.

I am not suggesting that Sam Darnold to Seattle is anything close to a given, nor am I actively trying to push Geno Smith out the door on my humble blog. I am just saying that certain aspects of Darnold sorta align with what Seattle could realistically do at quarterback given the likelihood that they will not be picking in the top five of the draft annually where bright young college quarterbacks typically now get selected. Do they want to pay 34 year old Geno Smith a big three year extension this offseason, or will they be more willing to take an educated guess on the upside of 27 year old Sam Darnold instead, and pivot towards his availability?

Many would see this as a lateral move at quarterback, and I get that. Personally, I think Darnold falls into a similar category of quarterback as Geno Smith. With Darnold, however, Seattle could conceivably have about a seven year window of steady play with a definite possibility that his ceiling of a player has not been met, yet. With Geno, however, I think even his strongest supporters would say that his window of playing quality QB1 ball is probably about two more years.

So, I am just going to leave my thoughts on the potential of Darnold to Seattle at that. On the surface, I think it is interesting, and with this new hire, I think it only adds fuel to the notion.

I will say that whomever Seattle does have quarterbacking here over the next few years, this hire feels more promising for that player whether it is Geno Smith or someone else. When the Mike Shanahan system clicks, it is incredibly quarterback friendly. Many quarterbacks have found success running it, and often times, they have not been premiere physical talents, either. Kirk Cousins, Matt Schaub, Joe Flacco, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Brock Purdy are not who you think about when you think of big rocket armed quarterbacks who have tilted the fields on Sundays like a Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, or even a Joe Burrow.

You don’t need a freak of nature to run the Shanahan machine. You just need a dude who has good enough accuracy and athleticism to handle bootleg roll outs, smarts to know the playbook and where to go with the ball, and probably enough size to see where to go with the ball over the middle of the field. If he’s got a big arm, great, but really, this is a system tailor made for a dude willing to be a good game manager.

There are a lot of quarterbacks in this league who could find success in this scheme with the right parts in place. Sam Howell, as bad as he looked against Green Bay when he was forced into the game, could conceivably find success should Seattle turn to him down the road. I can imagine a middling guy like Mac Jones having some success, or even Spencer Rattler if Seattle wanted to now work out a trade for him.

Or they could just as easily choose to hang onto Geno Smith a few more years, and he could most likely run it to pretty good effect. I feel like with this hire, many possibilities open up for Seattle at QB, and that includes taking a day two or mid round flyer on a quarterback in the draft this Spring.

At any rate, I am glad they settled for Kubiak. I got worried about some of the unknowns with Fraley, Adam Stenavich (never called plays in Green Bay despite his OC title), and Grant Udinski. I know there is some speculation out there that Fraley might have been their top choice, but Ian Rapoport’s tweet suggests that Kubiak was their guy all along. Either way, I am glad that it is settled, and we can move onto an offseason that will surely focus largely on fixing the offensive line.

When Seattle closed their season out almost a month ago now, I stated my desires to see a change at offensive coordinator, a major focus of improvement to the offensive line, and for them to keep an open mind at quarterback. They have now accomplished the first task.

Let us now see how they approach the offensive line, and I hope it is with aggression, and let us see how they handle what they have at quarterback. This feels like a pivotal offseason for John Schneider on both of these fronts. We shall soon enough see.

Onto thoughts about Pete Carroll with the Raiders

I was happy news brought Friday morning that Pete Carroll got back into the league by agreeing to coach the Vegas Raiders. I don’t particularly like the Raiders, but I am pretty long over the old AFC rivalry we used to have with them a quarter century ago.

I think that a lot of Raiders fans are pretty obnoxious people, and I was at Lumen Field last year when we blew that overtime game to them, and lost. I was followed, and heckled by a couple thuggish young Raiders fans as I was walking to my bus stop on Alaska. I am sure other Seahawk fans were being harassed, as well. Raider Nation walked out of Lumen Field as if they had just won a championship game, and they wanted Seattle fans to feel it.

The Raider faithful are not the only fans to behave this way. I suspect fans from many other markets come into Seattle sensing that Seatteites aren’t very aggressive people by nature, there is not a lot of edginess in the PNW, in general, and when their visiting team wins, they love to stir up shit with disappointed Seahawk fans. I have seen it amplified with New York fans, San Francisco fans, and Philly fans, especially.

But Raider fans are a whole different level of toxicity. For that reason, I have always particularly enjoyed their long suffering.

Therefore, I will say that because I am still very staunchly a Pete Carroll fan, I will be perfectly willing to pause my Raider schadenfreude for the next however many years Carroll coaches down there. When they aren’t playing against, Seattle, I will root for them.

And they need Pete Carroll desperately there. They need a total culture reset, and Pete Carroll is a hall of fame culture builder. I suspect he will get them going the right direction straight out of the gates.

I also anticipate we will see former Seahawks down there fairly soon. Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson will be free agents, and Wagner in particular I can see heading down there. Jarran Reed could be on his way, as well, and should Seattle sever ties with Tyler Lockett, or Geno Smith, I think Vegas would be the prime landing spot for both.

It wouldn’t shock me if Vegas calls Seattle about DK Metcalf’s availability via trade, or even Riq Woolen. With Kubiak bringing in his Shanahan offense, I don’t know how much DK is a fit for that, and Woolen seems maybe more of a Carroll style outside corner than maybe perhaps Macdonald’s, but I am projecting here on both accounts.

I see a lot of speculation out there that the Raiders could show interest in Geno Smith given how much Pete Carroll favored him, and that there remains a lot of mutual respect between the QB and coach. In that, I have seen it suggested that perhaps John Schneider has never been as warm about Geno as Pete was, and would be fine to move on if negotiations proved too difficult.

I would just say to that, if Pete Carroll knows how John truly feels about Geno, instead of calling him and asking what it would take to deal him to Vegas, Pete Carroll could simply tell the Vegas GM to hold tight and not do anything, and see if Seattle just cuts Geno outright if a team friendly extension cannot be had. If Pete can sorta detect that scenario, why would he encourage his GM to hand Seattle a valuable draft pick?

So, I would just encourage that maybe breaks be pumped a bit on the idea that suddenly Vegas will trade one of their third round picks to Seattle for an older quarterback that Seattle might be reluctant to sign to a big extension. I am very skeptical of that probability when there will be other quarterbacks on the market they could just as easily pursue.

Here is what I would say about what Pete likely wants to do in Vegas. I think he sees about a three or four year window to finally right their ship and have them contending. I don’t think he will likely want to babysit a rookie quarterback in that stretch of time. He will want to be paired with a veteran, and certainly Geno Smith or Russell Wilson could be prime candidates. I could also see them wanting to aggressively pursue Sam Darnold and perhaps pay him top market value. It could be a situation as to whether that is where Darnold wants to be, though, or does he want to go to a team that is, in his mind, a closer contender in a division that does not feature Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert.

Oddly, I could see scenarios where Vegas trades for Geno (or signs him in free agency if he is cut), brings in Russell Wilson to reunite with the guy who drafted him, and perhaps even battles against Seattle for the likes of Darnold. In any of these scenarios, it is likely going to have a pull on Seahawk fans, but at any rate, I think it if for almost certain that Pete will want to pair with a veteran quarterback who he really likes and trusts a lot.

It is going to be really interesting down there with how they handle the QB spot. If I had to guess anything, I am now starting to think that a Russ and Pete reunion in Sin City now maybe has greater legs than I would have thought a couple days ago. There is a lot buzz building around that. The two personalities are wired very similarly on the holistic positively thinking stuff, and I think it is now possible that Russ has been humbled enough to now see that for him to exist as a starting NFL quarterback, it is probably best to not be cooking to the extent that he felt he needed to a few years back. I think it is also still very possible that Russ holds enough positive belief in himself that he would not shy away from signing with a team that has to play against Mahomes twice a year.

At any rate, I am happy for Pete, and I will be rooting for his success with the Silver and Black. With what he built up in Seattle with the Legion of Boom defense, I have always thought that Carroll had an affinity for the Raider way. Now he gets to close out his coaching career building it back up. I am interested in seeing where it now goes.

I am also very excited to see what Seattle can do this year with Kubiak paired with Macdonald. I feel like they are close to upper tier contention, and they have personnel who will fit what Kubiak will want to do at running back, receiver, and tight end, and quarterback even with all of my Geno speculations. They just need to fix that offensive line.

So, just bloody well fix the thing.

Go Hawks.