Of course, building off what Young can do is the biggest first step in that process, as he was a very different quarterback at the end of last year than at the beginning.
He had 10 touchdowns (rushing and passing) in the final three weeks of the season and no interceptions. Since taking over again as a starter in Week 8, he had 26 of what Pro Football Focus defines as "big-time throws," tied for most in the league over that span with Cincinnati's Joe Burrow. And most importantly, he led the team on game-winning or game-tying drives six times in the final nine weeks.
And while it was just one day, you could already see them building on Tuesday, adding concepts on a rainy practice field that weren't seen last year. Young said he saw the same phenomenon when he watched Seattle tape from Canales' days there, and he's excited about continuing to add.
"I think it's just being able to build off of the foundation we laid last year," Young said. "Around this time last year, obviously it's a new system, new offense, so, we're getting the basics, we're ironing out the day one first stuff, and just the the the basics of the offense. And now, me too, we get to start so much further ahead, a lot of returning guys, a lot of familiar faces, and also that's a lot of kudos to the guys coming in, the free agents, the rookies that are coming in. Let's start at a master's level, let's make sure that we're more advanced and for them, this is their first time in the system, and you wouldn't be able to tell by a lot of the guys. That speaks to their hard work, and it's exciting to see us start a lot more ahead this year.
"I think that within the system, there's so many wrinkles and so many little things that build off of each other that the coaching staff has done a great job and has had a lot of success throughout the years. Obviously, in Seattle, they had a ton of time together, and you could kind of see a lot of stuff for Year 2, Year 3, or 4. And there's a lot of stuff that we're able to talk about and mention last year that you know was all right. I don't know if we're there, and for us, it's exciting for us to be able to now have an opportunity to grow towards that and start a lot further so that we can reach all those little wrinkles. So there's definitely a lot of stuff that we're excited about."