What NFL insiders say about 3 big Seattle Seahawks questions

Jul 18, 2024, 9:32 AM

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald watches a workout on May 3, 2024. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Producer, Brock & Salk (6-10 a.m.)

With Seattle Seahawks training camp a week away and the season opener in just under two months, there is still a great deal of mystery surrounding what this team will look like.

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For 14 seasons under Pete Carroll, we had a pretty good idea what to expect. Most years, it was a highly competitive contender that only got better as the season went along. Recently, however, we started to see communication issues and third-down struggles become issues that plagued the team throughout the entire season.

Now that Seattle has parted ways with Pete Carroll and moved into the Mike Mcdonald era, what are the biggest questions remaining about how this team will look? Let’s take a look along with what NFL insiders have told us on Seattle Sports about those question marks.

1. Can Mike Macdonald get the Seattle Seahawks’ defense back on track?

The Seahawks were a top five defense from 2013-16. In 2017, they dipped to 11th, and in 2018 that fell to 16th. Ever since then, they have been stuck somewhere in the bottom 10 teams in the NFL, with last year being the worst at 30th.

What can Mike Macdonald do to get Seattle’s defense back to being one of the most feared units in the league? Well, if his résumé as Baltimore defensive coordinator provides a preview of what he can accomplish here, hopefully a lot. When Macdonald took over as Ravens DC in 2022, they were coming off of a season where they ranked 25th in overall defense and gave up a league high 4,742 passing yards. In his first season as DC, they finished ninth in overall defense and allowed 3,947 passing yards.

Macdonald has also developed a reputation for getting the most out of players like journeyman pass rushers Kyle Van Noy and Jadaveon Clowney and former practice squad safety Geno Stone. How does he do it? Ted Nguyen of The Athletic joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy last month and broke down the similarities between Macdonald and another NFC West coach.

“What Sean McVay did when he first became the Rams head coach was he didn’t run a ton of different formations,” Nguyen said. “He only ran maybe three or four base formations, and out of those formations you could run all of his plays, all his play-actions, all his screens. Then you just add some eye candy to it with different motions and shifts and what not. Macdonald doesn’t run a ton of different defensive fronts but out of those fronts, he can run any pressure he wants, and then you can add different layers to it by switching this player here or there. And again, that just presents a different type of presentation to the offense that they have to be prepared for.”

Macdonald’s defense looks complex to the quarterback facing it, but he says he presents it in a clear way that the players can master it and simplify it for themselves. “Clear” was a common word used to describe Macdonald’s communication style and defense by players throughout offseason activities. It remains to be seen how that plays out on the field, but it’s a refreshing term to hear after one too many seasons hearing players point to communication issues as the main culprit for the defensive breakdowns.

2. How will new OC Ryan Grubb utilize wide receivers and develop JSN?

Ryan Grubb was calling the shots for one of the most potent offenses in college football last season as UW Huskies offensive coordinator, helping to highlight a trio of wide receivers who were all picked within the first three rounds of the NFL Draft in April. Now, he gets to work with one of the most talented WR trios in the NFL.

Who will emerge as a top target in Grubb’s offense? Danny Kelly of The Ringer joined Bump and Stacy last week and gave his answer to that question.

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“I would not be surprised if Jaxon Smith-Njigba ended up with more volume and better stats than Tyler Lockett this year,” Kelly said. “We don’t know exactly what this offense is going to look like under Ryan Grubb but I could see Smith-Njigba being a big target on short and intermediate plays. Get him open early and get him opportunities to run out the catch.

“We joke around about it but Lockett is not a yards-after-catch creator anymore at this point. He’s kind of a catch and fall down type of player. I think he could be more of… not a role player necessarily but play his role as a deep threat guy who can take the top off a defense still, and make a few important catches on third down. Overall, volume-wise I could see JSN really start to emerge as the No. 2 guy.”

JSN got rave reviews for his performance coming out of the Seahawks’ offseason activities, but it sounds like there will be a lot to learn in this new system for the second-year player. Lockett, who is entering his 10th season with Seattle, described Grubb’s offense to reporters back in May and made it clear that it’s complex even for someone with his level of experience.

“The level of assignments that all of us have with learning the offense, the different things we can get to at the line of scrimmage,” Lockett said. “I mean, it’s super, super not only sophisticated but detail-oriented. So I think we’ve got to really be able to study the playbook and understand the different types of spots because any of us could be in any given position at any given time. That’s the cool part about the offense, but it’s also the tough part because that means everybody has to learn every single spot and you can’t get stuck just knowing one spot.”

3. Is the offensive line improved?

The Seahawks’ offensive line struggled in 2023, and it showed both in the lack of a rushing attack and quarterback Geno Smith’s regression from his 2022 Pro Bowl season. It didn’t help that they had to really lean into their depth due to injuries, but still, changes needed to be made.

The Seahawks parted ways with center Evan Brown and guard Damien Lewis, and they added tackle George Fant, center Nick Harris and guards Laken Tomlinson and Tremayne Anchrum. They also added UConn guard Christian Haynes, Utah guard Sataoa Laumea and Findlay tackle Michael Jerrell in the draft.

They certainly added some depth, but have they upgraded? Well, not according to Pro Football Focus. It had the Seahawks’ O-line ranked 30th heading into the 2023 season and dropped them down one spot to 31st heading into this season. One former NFL offensive linemen thinks they will at least show some more consistency, though. NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk in June and gave his thoughts on the revamped unit.

“Anthony Bradford is an enormous guy inside,” Baldinger said. “I don’t know if he’s going to nail down the right guard spot. Laken Tomlinson has always been a healthy guy. Whether he’s in Detroit, San Francisco or with the Jets, the guy just lines up and plays. He’s not a Pro Bowl player by any stretch but he’s a consistent player. You know what you’re getting. The tackles Charles Cross and Abe Lucas are going into their third year right now. They should be pretty good up front right now. I think they’re a little small maybe in the middle, which doesn’t always excite me, but they should be pretty athletic and they should be pretty consistent up front.”

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It might not be the most ringing endorsement, but having someone with durability (Tomlinson) and a solid backup option should Abe Lucas miss more time with his knee soreness (George Fant) seem like upgrades. Right guard should be a fun competition to watch in training camp. You’ve got last year’s fourth-round draft pick in Bradford, who missed OTAs with an injury, this year’s third-round draft pick in Haynes, who a lot football analysts love, and McClendon Curtis, who was signed off the Raiders practice squad and took the starting reps in OTAs. It’s most likely a battle between Bradford and Haynes, but Brock Huard has noted numerous times on Brock and Salk how much the team loves Curtis and his versatility.

Geno Smith spoke about his excitement for the O-line they’ve assembled during OTAs.

“Shoot man, I think they’re going to be the best in the world,” Smith said. “That’s the way I look at it. I think we’ve got the right guys. I think we’ve got the right coaches. It all comes down to having the right mindset.”