Huard: An area where Seahawks OC can help Darnold improve

New Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold and former Hawks signal-caller Geno Smith shared something in common this past season: They both were among the most-sacked QBs in the NFL.

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Darnold took 48 sacks during his breakout campaign with the Minnesota Vikings, which was tied for fourth-most in the league. Darnold then was sacked another nine times in Minnesota’s wild-card playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams. And Smith took 50 sacks as Seattle’s quarterback, which was third-most in the league.

In both cases, Darnold and Smith suffered from pass-protection issues up front. The Vikings ranked 15th in Pro Football Focus‘ pass block grading, while the Seahawks ranked 26th.

However, both QBs also could have done a better job of avoiding sacks. Darnold was sacked on 20.3% of dropbacks in which he was pressured, while Smith was sacked on 19.9%, according to PFF. Both marks were about middle of the pack.

“Avoiding taking those sacks, that is such an enormous component in this league,” former NFL quarterback Brock Huard said this past week during a Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“And that was the one kind of challenge I think with Geno at times. Like, get rid of the ball. Just throw it away. Those negative plays are like penalties. They’re like a holding call. It just submarines your whole drive.”

One piece of good news for Darnold and the Seahawks? New Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak runs a Shanahan-style scheme that’s considered to be QB-friendly.

And as Huard pointed out, in each of Kubiak’s previous two OC stints, his quarterbacks have excelled at limiting sacks.

When Kubiak was the New Orleans Saints’ OC this past season, Derek Carr was sacked just eight times in 10 games. Carr had a league-low 2.8% sack rate, despite playing for a Saints team that ranked dead-last in PFF pass block grading. He was sacked on just 8.5% of the dropbacks in which he was pressured, which was the second-lowest rate in the league according to PFF.

Meanwhile, back when Kubiak was the Vikings’ OC in 2021, Kirk Cousins was sacked just 28 times in 16 games. Cousins had the fifth-lowest sack rate at 4.75%, despite playing behind the 27th-ranked PFF pass block grading unit. And he was sacked on just 13.4% of the dropbacks in which was was pressured, which was the fourth-lowest rate in the league.

“I think one of the clearest next steps (for) Sam is to throw the ball away,” Huard said. “Live to play another day. … Know where your outlets are. If you’ve gotta just burn it in the ground on a checkdown, burn it in the ground.

“He was sacked last year with a bad Minnesota O-line 48 times. That number has gotta come way, way down. And this system should be a big (help).”

Listen to the full Blue 88 segment at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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