A new Seahawks season is right around the corner! Hurrah! For the first time since 2010, Seattle will open their season with a new head coach at the helm. Many thanks to Pete Carroll, especially for Super Bowl XLVIII, but it was abundantly clear a change was necessary. Enter Mike Macdonald, the 37-year-old defensive wizard, who ran that side of the ball for the Michigan Wolverines (2021) and Baltimore Ravens (2022-2023). Over the past two seasons, under Macdonald, the Ravens have been one of the best defenses in the NFL. If you watched the 2023 Seahawks you would’ve noticed how susceptible they were against the run. Over the course of a 17 game season they gave up 2352 rushing yards and a whopping 24 touchdowns. Compare that to the ’23 Ravens who gave up 1864 rushing yards and only 6 ground TD’s. Another area where the Seahawks desperately need to improve is their ability to rush the passer. Last season, Seattle forced 47 sacks and hit the QB 97 times with their top-2 leaders in sacks being EDGE Boya Mafe (9) and DT Jarren Reed (7). Baltimore was able to lead the league in sack (60) and were top-5 in QB hits (117) with DT Justin (now Nnamdi) Madubuike (13), EDGE Jadeveon Clowney (9.5) and OLB Kyle Van Noy (9) leading the way. A faster, more aggressive and better disciplined defense should be in store for Seahawks fans.

One startling stat about the ’23 Seahawks was how few plays their offense ran, only 995 total. They were the *only* team in the NFL under 1000 plays. Seattle ranked among the bottom third of the league in most of the important offensive categories: 17th in total points (364), 21st in total yards (5490), 23rd in total first downs (317), 20th in passing TD’s (23), 21st in rushing TD’s (11), 28th in rushing yards (1580) and rushing yards per game (92.9). Shane Waldron, now the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears, was the OC & play-caller. He’s replaced by one of the masterminds behind the 2023 Washington Huskies, Ryan Grubb who had one interesting off-season.

After Kalen DeBoer so mercilessly left Washington to replace college football legend Nick Saban at Alabama, Ryan Grubb had a massive decision to make. Interview for the Huskies vacant HC position, follow DeBoer to ‘Bama or find a new job. He posted a heartfelt message to Husky nation, explaining how he wasn’t in the running for the head position and was leaving the university to re-join DeBoer at Alabama. He went on to spent less than a month in Tuscaloosa before new Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald offered him the same position. The two met at the 2023 NFL combine and kept in touch since. A couple of Alabama fans tried to tell me the Alabama OC job was better than the Seahawks OC job…not a chance. NFL jobs are simply harder to come by, only 32 available, and if he doesn’t do well in the pros, he can always find a job back at the college level, not the other way around. At his introductory Seahawks press conference he said, “This is like the unicorn event in coaching. The fact that I got to stay right here and (become an NFL coordinator) in a city, in a place that I already love … is special.” It sounds like he and his family really liked Seattle and didn’t want to leave in the first place. Now, of course, this is a risky hire because Grubb doesn’t have any NFL experience, but the other reported candidates didn’t inspire much confidence. With Grubb, at least, there is a track record of him building a well-balanced, high-powered offense at the college level. Time to see if it translates to the pros though.

When Pete Carroll was hired as the Seahawks head coach, he had been at USC for a number of years, was extremely successful and built up his credentials. He knew himself and how he wanted to run everything by the time Seattle came calling, a fully developed coach. Now, with Mike Macdonald their are the bones of a successful coach, but he’s extremely untested and lacks experience as the head guy. He coached under both Jim and John Harbaugh, so he certainly saw up-close-and-personal what it takes to lead a successful college program and NFL team. It’ll be interesting to see how he applies these lessons to his own coaching staff, principals and philosophy. Here are the 10 most important players/positions for a successful maiden season.

• Geno Smith (QB) – No other position in football, and maybe all of sports, is an important as the quarterback. If you don’t have at least a league-average option, then your team isn’t going to go far. Geno Smith was originally brought in to be Russell Wilson’s backup and filled in admirably a couple of times. Once it was clear Russell and Pete Carroll were sick of each other, with Wilson being traded for a king’s ransom, Geno was entrusted to be the starter. It worked out very well in 2022 with Smith putting up 4282 passing yards, 30 TD’s-to-11 interceptions and a league-high 69.8% pass completion rate. He won the comeback player of the year, which is a little funny because he wasn’t hurt or anything the year prior. His 2023 wasn’t nearly as effective or efficient, passing for 3624 yards, 20 TD’s-to-9 interceptions and a 64.7% pass completion rate. Remarkably, he made the Pro Bowl last season. He’ll turn 34 on October 10th and will have 1-year left on his deal after the season. It feels like he will have one season to prove himself under Mike Macdonald, who isn’t wed to the QB and might want to bring in his own guy. The Seahawks also traded for QB Sam Howell in the off-season.
• Kenneth Walker III (RB) – Burst onto the scene in his rookie season to the tune of 1050 rushing yards and 9 TD’s, both were right at or outside the top-10 for RB’s. He was primed for a breakout sophomore season, but regressed slightly (905 rushing yards & 8 TD’s). One issue being he’s always looking to hit the home run, which sometimes gets him in trouble. There have been a few times when he didn’t hit the hole and, instead, tried to reverse course. Sometimes breaking off a big gain, but other times getting stopped for a loss behind the line of scrimmage. It’s slightly maddening and something he will need to iron out of his game. If he can do that (and stay healthy), then there isn’t a reason he can’t crack 1200-1300 rushing yards and score 10 TD’s in Ryan Grubb’s RB friendly offense.
• DK Metcalf (WR) – In a league full of outstanding talents at the wide receiver position, Metcalf has the body-type and physical attributes to become a top-5 receiver. He’s clearly the most talented pass catcher on the team, has a good rapport with Geno Smith and will get his fair share of targets within the offense. The two main things he needs to improve upon are his concentration (too many drops) and keeping his emotions in check (too many stupid penalties). He could also improve his run blocking. Rome Odunze flourished under Ryan Grubb, leading college football in receiving yards (1640) last season. There is no reason to think Metcalf can’t make a similar jump in production.
• Leonard Williams (DL) – Last season, Seattle’s defense was such a disaster they had to bolster the D-Line midseason by acquiring Leonard Williams from the New York Giants. Sending them two picks; a 2024 2nd round pick & a 2025 5th round pick in exchange for the player. He played fine individually but the defense overall didn’t improve. After spending such significant draft capital on him, the front-office knew they needed to re-sign him in the off-season, as he was due to become an unrestricted free agent. Meaning John Schneider and the Seahawks would have to sign him to a lucrative extension or else let him walk for free. There were some suitors, but he ended up staying in Seattle and signing a 3-year, $64.5 million dollar deal ($43.85 million dollars guaranteed). The Seahawks have a potential out after the season though, with a somewhat manageable $16.6 million dollar dead cap hit, if Mike Macdonald doesn’t like what he sees. He’s an all-around type of player who can fill a bunch of different roles across the D-Line depending on the situation and scheme.
• Riq Woolen (CB) – Was one of the gems of the 2022 draft after going in the 5th round out of the University of Texas-San Antonio. He finished the season picking off a league-high 6 passes and made the Pro Bowl. He fell back to earth in 2023, only nabbing 2 interceptions and missing more than a few tackles in open space. His size and length are assets against bigger, faster, deep-threat type of WR’s but against the smaller, shifter, precise route-runners he struggles. Hopefully Mike Macdonald recognizes this and tailors Woolen’s role towards what he excels at. He’s still under contract for another 2 seasons, but if he gets back to the standard of play-making he showed in his first season, then a massive payday will be waiting.
• Laken Tomlinson, Conor Williams & Anthony Bradford (IOL) – Outside of rush defense, this was the weakness of the team. Week in, and week out opposing coaches/teams took advantage of Damien Lewis (LG), Evan Brown (C) and Phil Haynes (RG) and created chaos for the Seahawks up-front. Seattle overhauled the interior of their O-Line by letting those three go and replacing them with Laken Tomlinson (LG), Conor Williams (C) and Anthony Bradford (RG), while drafting G Christian Hayes (UConn) & G Sataoa Laumea (Utah) and hoping to see improvement with 2nd-year C Olu Oluwatimi. A ton of question marks still remain with this group.
• Byron Murphy II (NT/DT) – Seattle held a top-5 pick in the 2023 draft, after an abysmal Denver Broncos season, and had a very important decision to make. What position to select? There were a couple of interesting QB prospects (C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson) but neither one made it to 5. So Seattle pivoted to defense with the decision coming down to Georgia DT Jalen Carter and Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon. Personally, Carter felt like the pick and could’ve helped anchor the D-Line for years to come, but the character concerns were, most likely, what scared off John Schneider and Pete Carroll. They went the “safe” route and choose Witherspoon. Which was the right decision as he ended up being a STUD and now combines with Riq Woolen to form one of the most promising CB tandems in the NFL. Which brings us to the 2024 draft, where the Seahawks still had massive issues along the trenches that needed filling. Texas DT’s Byron Murphy II, along with T’vondre Sweat were the best DT pairings in American. Nobody was running on the Longhorns. Sweat is bigger & heavier (6-ft 4-in, 366lbs) and more of a traditional space eater up-front, but even at a slightly smaller stature Murphy is no small man (6-ft, 306lbs). Mike Macdonald ended up drafting Byron Murphy II as his first ever Seahawks draft pick. It feels like he went with him due to being a younger prospect (22 years old on September 8th) and flashing more pass rushing ability. Murphy II starts the season behind NT Jonathan Hankins on the depth chart, but could easily slide into the starting role depending on how quickly he picks up the pro game. Keep you eyes peeled for this guy.
• Julian Love (Safety) – One of the few Seattle defenders who performed well last season. After signing as a free agent in 2023, he put up career-best’s across the board (4 interceptions, 10 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles and 123 tackles) and was rewarded with a trip to the Pro Bowl. Interestingly, safety play is a staple of Mike Macdonald’s defense, so expect another productive season from Love.
• Uchenna Nwosu (OLB) – Had a very good 2022 after signing from the Chargers with 9.5 sacks, 66 tackles, 12 TFL’s and 26 QB hits, but regressed in 2023 mostly due to injury. A fresh start under a new coach is just what he needed. Unfortunately, it looks like he’s going to miss the first month of the season after spraining his MCL in the final preseason game against the Cleveland Browns. Seattle need him back and performing badly.
• Jerome Baker & Tyrel Dodson (ILB) – The heart of the Ravens defense was the play of their inside linebackers, Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen. Both had an exceptional 2023, resulting in them being voted to the Pro Bowl with Smith even making 1st team All-Pro. They did a little bit of everything in Mike Macdonald’s defense. The ILB play from last year’s starters, Bobby Wagner & Jordyn Brooks, was OK (good tackling, just lacked athleticism in pass coverage). Although, Macdonald still decided to move on from them. Queen was a target in free agency, but chose to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So instead, Seattle went the cost-effective route and signed Jerome Baker & Tyrel Dodson to 1-year, prove-it deals. Another position where the talent might not matchup with what Macdonald wants to run and asks those players to-do. Both feel like stopgaps with the team looking to strengthen via the draft or free agency in 2025.

After such a drastic change in the off-season, it’s hard to pinpoint what a successful season looks like for the Seattle Seahawks. Over the last couple of years under Pete Carroll, they were mostly fighting for a wildcard spot as the San Francisco 49ers were the class of the NFC and division. As a first-time head coach Mike Macdonald shouldn’t be given too many expectations in his first season, and instead work on figuring out his organizational/coaching style, practice habits and building up the team culture, but this is the NFL and things move at a galactic pace. The one thing he does need to show is an immediate improvement on defense, even incrementally from the start. He walks into a good position in Seattle, as this team does have talent up-and-down the roster, so the cupboard isn’t bare. At a minimum, it feels like he should win 8 or 9 games and be in the race for a wildcard berth.

Once again, thank you to Pete Carroll for raising the standards of the Seattle Seahawks. Reportedly, he’ll be teaching a fall class at USC. Good luck to him in his future endeavors! It just feels like the whole fanbase can now take a deep breath, forget about the specter of Super Bowl XLIX & the “win forever, always compete” mantra and look towards a bright new future with one of the most promising and best young defensive minds at the helm. GO HAWKS!