As big a mystery as any surrounding the 2025 Seahawks is what the offense will look like under new coordinator Klint Kubiak.
The Seahawks hope the answer is “just like how the New Orleans Saints played the first two weeks of the 2024 season.”
Kubiak was the OC a year ago when the Saints began the season about as fast as a team can — in beating Carolina and Dallas by a combined 91-29.
Over the first two games, the Saints scored on each of their first 15 possessions, with 11 touchdowns and four field goals. That included all nine possessions in a 47-10 win over Carolina and the first six of a 44-19 victory over the Cowboys.
Injuries and ineptitude took their toll from there and coach Dennis Allen was fired after the Saints lost their next seven.
That didn’t dissuade the Seahawks from calling Kubiak after coach Mike Macdonald fired offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb after the 2024 season.
In Kubiak, Macdonald saw not only a coordinator who better shared his ideal for what the offense would look like — a better running game — but had more experience working in an NFL environment than Grubb, who’d never previously coached above the college level.
The 38-year-old Kubiak has been around the NFL game his entire life — his father, Gary, was a quarterback for nine years, and an assistant or head coach for 23 more, notably leading the Broncos to the Super Bowl title following the 2015 season.
“Klint has a really great vision for where he wants our offense to go,” Macdonald said on the February day the team introduced Kubiak, who has been on an NFL staff every year but once since 2013, including the 2021 season as offensive coordinator for the Vikings. “I definitely believe that aligns with how we want to rock.”
As Macdonald noted that day, Kubiak’s vision mirrors that of the man his father got his coaching start under — former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan.
It’s a system that emphasizes a zone blocking scheme for the run, and lots of play action and plays that get the quarterback rolling out and using his legs in the passing game.
Barely a month after Kubiak was hired, the Seahawks’ personnel changed drastically when in the span of five days the Seahawks released receiver Tyler Lockett and traded receiver DK Metcalf and quarterback Geno Smith.
In their place arrived free agent signee quarterback Sam Darnold and receiver Cooper Kupp.
The Seahawks feel Darnold is a better fit for Kubiak’s scheme than Smith, specifically in his ability to make throws on the run.
“I think just moving the launch point is a part of what we do when we have the opportunity to do it,” Kubiak explained of why he likes calling roll outs and bootlegs for his quarterbacks. “Extend the down longer and push the ball down the field. I think if we’re always staying in between the two guards, it just makes life a lot harder for the signal caller. So, I’m trying to help him out.”
Seahawks fans got a glimpse of what the scheme will look like when Darnold and most of the starters played one series to open the second preseason game against the Chiefs.
Darnold completed all four of his passes for 34 yards, at one point rolling to his left to hit fullback Robbie Ouzts for 13 yards, and on the next play rolling to his right to hit tight end Elijah Arroyo for nine as the Seahawks moved quickly for a touchdown in a 33-16 win.
The real centerpiece of the offense is the outside zone blocking scheme to power the running game and hopefully revive an attack that ranked 28th last year in yards and 29th in attempts.
Kubiak brought in veteran offensive line coach John Benton — who has been in the NFL for 21 years — to oversee it and hired Rick Dennison, who has been an NFL coach for 29 yards, as run-game coordinator.
A 2020 story in The Washington Post well-summarized the outside zone running scheme:
“Outside zone is a running play on which offensive linemen focus their blocks on zones, or spaces on the field, as opposed to specific defenders (which is referred to as man-to-man blocking). It calls upon linemen to caravan toward the sideline and push back whichever defenders are in the way. Running backs are asked to look for three options: ‘bounce’ outside, ‘bang’ a cut upfield between the linemen or ‘bend’ on a cutback across the formation.”
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The Seahawks feel the outside zone scheme will be a better fit for the skill set of its returning linemen, while left guard Grey Zabel was taken 18th overall in part because of how well general manager John Schneider felt he will fit in it.
Defensive linemen have to respond by running laterally rather than straight ahead, and the hope is that creates a lane for a running back to sprint through.
“I remember when we played the (Atlanta) Falcons last year and they had a similar scheme,” Seahawks defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. “Bijan Robinson was able to stretch the ball, cut back, and find holes (he finished with 103 yards on 21 carries). It’s hard on the defense because you’re stretching the ball for so long and everyone has to have their gap integrity the whole time. Sometimes it’s hard to stay in my gap running sideways for five or six yards.”
Macdonald lauded the fact that the system has a long history of success — Mike Shanahan led Denver to two Super Bowl titles with it in the late ‘90s and it’s a staple of the 49ers’ offense under Kyle Shanahan.
He also likes the fact that Kubiak, Benton and Dennison — who was an assistant at Denver under Mike Shanahan — have been teaching it for decades.
“Klint’s been around this scheme since he probably took his first breath,” Macdonald said. “He knows it cold. … I think it’s the repetition and time on task. The reads are consistent for the quarterback, the O-line tracks are the same, the running back tracks are the same.”
The hope is it proves a good fit or running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet.
If it doesn’t work, it won’t be for lack of trying as players have said they can sense Kubiak will stay committed to running no matter what.
“It’s kind of a nonnegotiable that we’re running the ball,” right tackle Abraham Lucas said.
Passing will still be important. The hope is that a good running attack will allow Darnold to pick-and-choose when to throw and limit interceptions.
While high-percentage passes are a big part of the scheme, it allows for plenty of deep shots. The expectation is third-year receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba will get more chances to line up outside and try to get deep, and that rookie Tory Horton can help fill the deep-threat void created when Metcalf left.
“I just love the mentality of our offense,” Smith-Njigba said. “Ground and pound, take some shots, mix it up. It’s a very versatile offense so I’m excited about that.”
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.