Walters: Seahawks’ new offense forces D to ‘think twice’

Jul 20, 2025, 9:44 AM

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Seahawks’ offense will look quite different this fall.

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After struggling in former offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb’s dropback-heavy passing attack last season, the Seahawks will run a version of the popular Shanahan-style system under new OC Klint Kubiak.

Some of the key differences will be a more balanced run-pass ratio, more under-center snaps and more play-action.

And from a big-picture perspective, the hope is that Kubiak’s scheme will have more play-to-play connectivity.

Seahawks Radio Network analyst and former NFL wide receiver Bryan Walters elaborated on that concept during a recent conversation on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.

Walters said Kubiak tries to make certain groups of plays all look the same, with the goal of being unpredictable and keeping opposing defenses off-balanced. From Walters’ perspective, that was lacking from Grubb’s scheme last year.

“Sometimes last year, you saw one formation come out and they only ran one play out of that formation,” Walters said. “And you’re like, huh, I know when two tight ends are in the backfield, this is the one play they go to. And you could see that from the press box.

“Kubiak will be playing more of a chess game out there. He might stick to one run play that might get stuffed three times, but you know he’s got a couple things off of that. He’s getting it ingrained in the defense to notice it, recognize it and think that they have a beat on it. And then (as the defense is) attacking full force, boom, you’ve got a play-action.”

Walters equated it to playing wide receiver.

“A good route runner makes every route look the same,” Walters said. “You don’t know if he’s running a deep ball. You don’t know if he’s running a slant. You don’t know if he’s running a hitch. But when he comes off the ball, everything looks like that go ball, and that just puts a wrinkle on the cornerback. It makes it tough on a corner. So I kind of think that’s the same philosophy this offense will be going for.

“Most plays will all be kind of coexisting with other plays and setting other plays up – just getting the defense to think twice. You just need a little split-second of delay – a little split-second of doubt to put in the defense – and then you’ve got the edge on them. And then you’ve got ’em exactly where you want ’em.”

Listen to the full conversation with Bryan Walters at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Tune in to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2 to 7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.