New Seahawks OC should study an All-Pro for ways to use DK Metcalf

When it comes to the Seahawks’ switch at offensive coordinator, it’s been much ado about the running game. And with good reason.

Why Pete Carroll will allow direction of Seahawks’ offense to be Waldron’s

We all know what Pete Carroll said about re-establishing the run in 2021. We also know Seattle’s new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron isn‘t coming from the Los Angeles Rams’ coaching staff alone, as Rams assistant offensive line coach Andy Dickerson was also hired to be the Hawks’ run game coordinator.

Waldron, though, was Los Angeles’ passing game coordinator, and it’s not like Seattle’s offense is built around a running back. It starts with quarterback Russell Wilson, and it’s almost inarguable that the Seahawks’ next most important player at a skill position is wide receiver DK Metcalf, who broke the franchise record for receiving yards in a season with 1,303 in 2020.

Now that Waldron is on board with the Seahawks, Danny O’Neil of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant thinks the first thing he needs to focus on is figuring out how he’s going to utilize the Seahawks’ Pro Bowl receiver.

“I think DK Metcalf is the guy with the most upside,” O’Neil said. “He’s great and he set a franchise record for receiving yards, and I think there’s a lot more that you can do with him. I think that finding out how to tap into that is going to be hard, because the league’s on notice now. It’s not going to be as easy for him as it was the first eight games of this season ever again. He is going to have attention paid to him.”

O’Neil has a pretty cut-and-dry method Waldron can use, too.

“Strategically as the offensive coordinator, what’s the first thing that you’re doing in that position? Because for me, it is going and pulling every piece of film from when Julio Jones was playing for the Atlanta Falcons when Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator, and it is starting there to get some ideas on how I use DK Metcalf.”

Jones was still an effective receiver for the Falcons in 2020 at 31 years old, but earlier in his career he was as dominant as any player at the position. And even though other teams were plenty aware of his ability, he still led the NFL with 1,871 receiving yards and 116.9 receiving yards per game in 2015, his fifth season in the league and first of two with Shanahan calling Atlanta’s plays.

There are a few reasons why Jones’ two seasons when Shanahan was in Atlanta before becoming 49ers head coach are a good jumping off point for Waldron and Metcalf. First, Metcalf is a big, physical receiver with incredible speed who will get a lot of defensive attention like Jones. And second, there are similarities to Shanahan’s offense and the one Waldron worked in under Rams head coach Sean McVay, as McVay was an offensive assistant in Washington when Shanahan was the team’s offensive coordinator from 2010-13.

“It’s not an identical copy,” O’Neil said. “The Rams didn’t run Kyle Shanahan’s offense, they ran Sean McVay’s, but there’s enough overlap there.”

You can hear O’Neil’s full discussion with Paul Gallant about Waldron and Metcalf from Friday’s edition of Danny and Gallant at the beginning of the podcast at this link or in the player below.

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