Huard: What OC Ryan Grubb can do to improve Seahawks’ offense

Feb 13, 2024, 11:23 AM

Seattle Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba runs with the ball against Tennessee on Dec. 24, 2023. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

(Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Editor, Seattle Sports

The Seattle Seahawks sure made an interesting choice for offensive coordinator under new head Mike Macdonald, at least for the fans locally.

Seattle Seahawks’ Macdonald details what drew him to OC Ryan Grubb

Ryan Grubb, who most recently spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator for a high-scoring UW Huskies team, has decided to stay in Seattle rather than follow former Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama.

There are a few questions Grubb’s hiring leads to. Most important, will his scheme translate to the NFL after he’s spent his entire coaching career thus far in the college game? And how will the Seahawks’ players fit into his offense?

FOX college football analyst Brock Huard, a former quarterback for both the Huskies and Seahawks, shared his view on that Monday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Let’s start with the second question, which led into Huard then answering the first.

Mike Salk, Huard’s co-host on Brock and Salk, asked if any Seahawks should be happy about what Grubb will bring to the team. Huard’s answer was topical: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who caught attention during Super Bowl week for how he answered questions about playing for the previous Seattle OC, Shane Waldron.

What’s up with the JSN comments about ex-Seahawks OC Waldron?

“I think if we had Jaxon Smith-Njigba for an interview… we could say, hey, did you get much time to watch what was going on north on 405 of you up there in Montlake?” Huard said. “Did you enjoy Jalen McMillan and Michael Penix and Rome Odunze? Did you enjoy watching all of those guys? Ja’Lynn Polk, a couple 1,000-yard receivers as they were just spraying the ball (over the field). I bet you Jaxon would be pretty excited.”

The 20th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Ohio State, Smith-Njigba had a slow start to his rookie season but finished the year with 628 yards and four touchdowns on 63 receptions.

So why Grubb’s scheme be a good fit for Smith-Njigba and Seattle’s other weapons in the passing game?

“He understands how to get guys matchups,” Huard said. “… The NFL is about matchups, and you saw that (in the Super Bowl) – both of those teams just tried to, as a playcaller, scheme to get to a matchup I can take advantage of. And that and therein is the biggest connection that Ryan Grubb has to the NFL because he’s a top-five motion/move/shift guy before the snap in college football.”

Huard said the Seahawks did play the matchup game at times under Waldron, but it’s perhaps more a part of Grubb’s identity as an OC.

“We talked about that during the season with these three (Seahawks) tight ends and you get to a one-on-one – I could think of the huge touchdown catch to Colby Parkinson where you get a 6-7 guy on a 6-foot corner, and it’s advantage Colby in that spot. But that is something within Grubb’s system, both at UW and at Fresno (State) and everywhere he’s been. Like, this is what we do. We want to get our best guys on a better matchup for us, on your limited guys. And we’re gonna show you one thing so you’re gonna show your cards, and we’re gonna shift and we’re gonna motion.”

Huard then pointed to the winning touchdown pass in overtime for the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

THE CHIEFS ARE BACK-TO-BACK SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS! pic.twitter.com/ZzfhTyUXg9

— NFL (@NFL) February 12, 2024

“The final play of the game right where they motion and they get a little bit of an adjustment and those guys have to communicate, and then oh, I’m a step late. And that’s all it takes in the NFL,” he said. “You’re one step late on one of those motions or leverages in leverage situations, you’re dead. … I think Grubb is going to fit in very well from that matchup perspective.”

You can listen to the full Brock and Salk conversation in the third segment of the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.