Hope springs eternal in the NFL offseason, as all the scorecards are set back to zero, and every team tries to figure out how to engineer a playoff run. The prospects of reaching the postseason are more realistic for some franchises than others, but the large amount of moving pieces during the NFL offseason can change a team’s outlook in a hurry.
By all accounts, the Seahawks appeared to have a successful first season under Mike McDonald. Despite finishing with a 10-7 record, Seattle narrowly missed the playoffs. While a strong first season would generally suggest a strong foundation to build off of, the Seahawks decided to tear down their offense by firing offensive coordinator Ben Grubb, trading away Geno Smith and D.K. Metcalf, and releasing Tyler Lockett after the 2024 season ended.
Seattle has since hired Klint Kubiak to be their offensive coordinator and signed quarterback Sam Darnold and wide receiver Cooper Kupp in free agency. As a result of the moves they have made, the Seahawks now possess five picks on the first two days of the draft and 10 overall, while also currently having the second-most cap space in the league. Following the reshuffling of their offense, will we see holdovers Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Kenneth Walker III maintain their places at the top of their respective depth charts, or should we expect to see some new faces leading Seattle in 2025?
Seattle Seahawks
2025 Effective Cap Space: $59.9M
Top-100 Picks in the 2025 Draft: 18, 50, 52, 82, 92
Total Number of Picks in the 2025 Draft: 10
Klint Kubiak’s Offense
Klint Kubiak joins Kyle Shanahan as a second-generation coach in one of the most successful coaching trees of the modern NFL. Mike Shanahan (head coach) and Gary Kubiak (offensive coordinator) coached together in Denver when the Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the late 1990s. Gary Kubiak tacked on a third Super Bowl win in Denver as the team’s head coach in 2015.
The younger Shanahan is considered one of the brightest offensive minds in the NFL today, but Klint Kubiak has also shown signs of carrying on his father’s legacy. Before becoming the Vikings’ offensive coordinator in 2021, Klint Kubiak spent two years under his father as Minnesota’s quarterbacks coach. With Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and Dalvin Cook at his disposal, the Vikings’ offense ranked 12th in total yards (11th in passing, 17th in rushing) and 14th in scoring in 2021. The offense ran at a pace that hovered right around league average, as their 65 plays per 60 minutes tied for 15th in the league and their 59% pass rate tied for 16th. Unfortunately, that season proved to be Mike Zimmer’s last as head coach in Minnesota, and Kubiak left with him.
After spending one season each in Denver and San Francisco as passing game coordinator, Kubiak got his second chance to lead an offense in 2024 with New Orleans. The Saints were the talk of the early 2024 season after scoring over 40 points in their first two games. However, they quickly lost momentum, only managing to win three more games over the remainder of the season. In part, the team stalled because of injuries to QB Derek Carr and WR1 Chris Olave, with the effects of their absences evident in the team’s game splits.
As New Orleans struggled through injuries and the firing of head coach Dennis Allen, the Saints’ 2024 offensive rankings of 21st in total yards (23rd in passing, 14th in rushing) and 24th in scoring may not truly represent Kubiak’s full talent. However, it is important to note that some aspects of Kubiak’s 2024 offense stayed consistent with his time in Minnesota, as the Saints’ average of 64 plays per 60 minutes tied for 18th in the NFL, while their 58% pass rate tied for 14th. Comparatively, Seattle’s 2024 offense under Ben Grubb averaged one fewer play per 60 minutes, but the Seahawks’ 63% pass rate was the fifth highest in the league.
While it feels fair to say that the collection of talent currently on the Seahawks’ offense is somewhere in between what Kubiak had in Minnesota and New Orleans, Seattle’s excess of cap space and draft picks could see their 2025 roster rival that of the 2021 Vikings by the time the season starts.
Despite the gap in talent between Kubiak’s teams in Minnesota and New Orleans, the fact that the pace of both offenses stayed fairly static should make us feel comfortable that we can expect something similar next season in Seattle. Kubiak’s past would signal an increase in run volume, and with two solid running backs already on the Seahawks’ roster, the run game is in good hands. The passing game, on the other hand, has experienced enough fluctuation this offseason to warrant some skepticism.
