The Seattle Seahawks’ offense underwent a lot of change over the past few months.
An early Seahawks 53-man roster projection for 2025
The Seahawks have a new offensive coordinator in Klint Kubiak, who brought a new scheme and an almost entirely new offensive coaching staff along with him to Seattle.
They likely will have at least four new offensive starters in quarterback Sam Darnold, rookie left guard Grey Zabel and wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
And they have several other rookie draft picks who could play key roles, including tight end Elijah Arroyo, wide receiver Tory Horton and fullback Robbie Ouzts.
But amid all the change, there’s one key dynamic that could help smooth the transition process. That’s the fact that Darnold and Kubiak have previous experience working together, back in 2023 with the San Francisco 49ers. Darnold was Brock Purdy’s backup QB that year, while Kubiak was the 49ers’ passing game coordinator.
During Monday’s edition of Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy, former NFL wide receiver Michael Bumpus discussed how beneficial that year together in San Francisco could be.
“(Kubiak) has his quarterback – a guy that he understands,” Bumpus said. “And that’s half the battle. … That relationship is going to be crucial for this offense.”
In addition, there are schematic similarities between what Darnold ran with the Minnesota Vikings last year and what he’ll run with the Seahawks. That’s because Kubiak and Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell are both products of the Shanahan coaching tree and run variations of the Shanahan scheme.
“Kubiak knows what he’s gonna run, and I think Darnold has a good understanding of what Kubiak wants out of the quarterback position,” said show producer Curtis Rogers, who was serving as a fill-in host. “So that should, in theory, eliminate a lot of the learning curve, (because) you have a quarterback and an offensive coordinator who are in lockstep.”
Listen to the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the bottom of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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