New Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak describes vision for offense

The short-lived Ryan Grubb era is over and a new one is starting for the Seattle Seahawks’ offense under recently hired coordinator Klint Kubiak.

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After calling plays for the New Orleans Saints last season and several previous stops serving various roles from college graduate assistant to NFL offensive coordinator, Kubiak is bringing his well-known scheme to the Pacific Northwest.

Kubiak is tasked with getting more out of a Seattle offense that has plenty of playmakers at the skills positions, but struggled with turnovers and running the ball while facing major challenges across the offensive line in 2024.

The new Seahawks play-caller joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy at team headquarters Tuesday for a wide-ranging conversation about his new position and shared what his vision is for the offense.

“What comes in my mind is a brand of physicality, an operating way of doing business, guys that can push through physical practices and long, padded training camps, and guys that can stay available throughout the little injuries that they get and play through them,” Kubiak said. “Not guys that are playing hurt, but if you got a little nick and you can play through it and keep getting better throughout practice, those are the kind of guys that I see as tough guys.”

While that toughness is something Kubiak wants to instill in the offense, he said much of that is determined by the type of players the team acquires.

“Those toughest guys, you’re going to try to develop that, but those are guys that you draft, those are guys that you bring in as free agents, those are guys that have built those reputations over a career of football,” Kubiak said. “So we’re going to emphasize toughness, we’re going to practice, we’re going to demand a lot out of them, but then we’re going to seek those individuals that possess those traits.”

Kubiak identified the run as a focal point of his offense. The Saints were 17th in the NFL in run-play percentage (43.02%) last season, but that number was likely affected by New Orleans often playing from behind. When the Saints led the NFL with 91 points through the first two weeks of the season, they were running the ball at a league-high 64.41%. They also ran the ball 50% of the time or more in two of their remaining three wins.

However, he doesn’t see running the football and being tough to be mutually exclusive.

“You can be a tough team and be a team that throws the ball a lot,” he said. “You can be a tough team and be a team that runs the ball.”

Why Kubiak is excited about RBs

While running the ball will be a focal point for Kubiak, his scheme asks running backs to be much more than just good runners of the football. Saints running back Alvin Kamara led all running backs in receiving targets (89), and was second in receptions (68) and third in receiving yards (543) in 2024. Kamara was also tied for third among running backs in number of plays line up as a receiver in the slot (60), according to Pro Football Focus.

Kubiak is eager to get Seahawks running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet involved in the passing game.

“I think for us to be successful, we got to ask a lot of our backs in the pass game,” Kubiak said. “We’re definitely gonna ask a lot of them to run the football, but using them in screens, motioning them out into empty (formations) and just getting them touches however that is. But I think that’s what excites me about working with especially (Walker) and Charbonnet is their ability to catch football.”

Listen to the full conversation in the video at the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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