Why Shane Waldron is who Seahawks are pinning Super Bowl hopes on

The Seahawks officially introduced new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday, and he shared with reporters how he wound up in Seattle and what his goals are for the future of the offense.

3 Things to Know: New Seahawks OC Waldron’s 1st press conference

Waldron joins the Seahawks after spending four years with the Los Angeles Rams, serving the last three years as the team’s passing game coordinator.

Now, Waldron will get to call plays in the NFL for the first time in his coaching career.  The Seahawks have made the playoffs eight of the last nine seasons but have not made a Super Bowl or played for an NFC Championship since the 2014 season.

Former NFL quarterback Jake Heaps said on Tuesday that the hire of Waldron shows that the new offensive coordinator is the guy Seattle is pinning its Super Bowl aspirations on.

“I know everyone’s going to look at (quarterback) Russell Wilson and say he’s the guy,” Heaps said on 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake and Stacy. “Yeah, absolutely, he’s a big part of that equation at $35 million you’re paying him. But the only change you’ve made so far to this team is your offensive coordinator, and you are pinning your hopes that Shane Waldron, with a renewed look for the offense and a different system, different philosophy and a different way to attack in a balanced approach is going to be the difference for you to get you to a Super Bowl.”

The Seahawks’ offensive coordinator the last three seasons was Brian Schottenheimer, who had been an offensive coordinator in the past. Under Schottenheimer, the team was at or near the top of the league in rushing in 2018 and 2019 but was about average in 2020 as the team went more pass heavy to start the year. After a hot start, though, the offense crashed down to earth and wasn’t nearly as dynamic as it was the first half of the season.

Heaps said Waldron has to assure that the offense doesn’t have a streak like that again.

“(The Seahawks) were able to turn things around defensively at the end of the year (after a poor start, but) your offense sputtered out and was not even close to anywhere near where they were the first eight weeks of the season,” he said. “You are pinning your hopes that Shane Waldron allows you to avoid a situation like that (from happening) ever again.”

On Wednesday, Heaps went further into why he thinks Waldron is the key to Seattle potentially getting back to the Super Bowl, which you can check out in the video below.

"Shane Waldron is THE GUY that the #Seahawks are pinning their hopes on to help them get back to the Super Bowl" -Jake Heaps

What's the first step he should take as OC in Seattle? @jtheaps9 & @StacyRost discuss that and more now.https://t.co/aYdBbdWFAIhttps://t.co/k9icB7ILcQ pic.twitter.com/oJKqiLzOUH

— 710 ESPN Seattle (@710ESPNSeattle) February 3, 2021

Listen to Tuesday’s discussion at this link or in the player below.

Follow Brandon Gustafson on Twitter.

Seahawks Rookie Report Card: Grading Jordyn Brooks and the 2020 class

Follow @TheBGustafson