Throughout the national media landscape, a number of pundits and outlets aren’t particularly sold on the Seattle Seahawks and their offseason transformation.
Schlereth: Seahawks WR Cooper Kupp ‘like having an extra tight end’
For instance, ESPN’s Ben Solak wrote that Seattle “downgraded” in moving on from Geno Smith, Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf and replacing them with Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia gave Seattle an unflattering a C-minus grade for its offseason.
And in most power rankings, the Seahawks sit either in the middle of the pack or the bottom half of the league.
However, NFL on FOX analyst and former two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Mark Schlereth sees things a bit differently.
During an appearance Wednesday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob, Schlereth pushed back against some of the negativity surrounding the Seahawks and explained why he views them in a more positive light.
For one, Schlereth pointed to Darnold’s breakout 2024 campaign in Minnesota and how he thinks Darnold isn’t necessarily a downgrade from Smith.
But most of all, Schlereth pointed to the schematic changes the Seahawks made by overhauling their offensive coaching staff and bringing in new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
“The philosophy of offensive line, philosophy of run game and philosophy of tying the run game to the passing game, those things are important,” Schlereth said.
The Seahawks struggled last season under first-year offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who was coaching at the NFL level for the first time after moving up from the college ranks. Seattle moved on from Grubb in January and replaced him with Kubiak, who has previous NFL offensive coordinator experience with the New Orleans Saints in 2024 and the Minnesota Vikings in 2021.
Kubiak, who has strong ties to the Shanahan coaching tree, brings a Shanahan-style offense to the Pacific Northwest that’s centered on play-action passing and a wide-zone blocking scheme. It’s a proven system throughout the NFL, unlike Grubb’s heavy dropback passing attack.
Kubiak also brought several assistants along with him from New Orleans, including offensive line coach John Benton and run game coordinator/senior offensive advisor Rick Dennison. The have a wealth of knowledge, with nearly five decades combined of NFL coaching experience.
Schlereth thinks all of those factors could make a major difference for Seattle this fall.
“Last year, you’re putting in a brand-new offense, there’s no continuity within that offense and you’re using a collegiate coach to implement an offense in the NFL,” Schlereth said. “And there are a lot of things that don’t translate from the college game to the professional game. … And so you (now) get people with experience coming to Seattle that understand the (NFL) game.
“And then the system, you really understand the system and you know the system,” he added. “… Now you’ve got a bunch of coaches that are on your staff that really understand and are connected together.”
Listen to the full conversation with Mark Schlereth at this link or in the audio player at the bottom of this story. Tune in to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2 to 7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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