It’s quite ambitious to hope your offensive coordinator can emulate Kyle Shanahan. While the 49ers’ Head Coach has ultimately failed to get his team over the final hurdle, nobody can deny the success he’s had in creating offensive output without having a superstar quarterback.

This is the play-caller who guided Matt Ryan to a MVP season in 2016 and should’ve had a Super Bowl ring. He’s since enjoyed success in San Francisco with Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy, reaching a further Super Bowl with each while coming agonisingly close again on both occasions.

There aren’t many coaches who could get to three Super Bowls with Ryan, Garoppolo and Purdy, plus two additional NFC Championship games.

He also helped make Kirk Cousins a success in Washington, launching a career that has been surprisingly financially beneficial to the former fourth round pick.

The only real blot on his copybook was when the Niners swung for the fences, trading a fortune for the physically gifted but hopelessly raw Trey Lance.

In a year we may see Purdy paid a fortune to be the quote/unquote ‘franchise quarterback’ in Santa Clara. Truth be told, the 49ers would probably be better off letting Shanahan find the next Purdy. His system and his coaching is the true MVP.

Not even Sean McVay can boast a ‘QB whisperer’ track record like Shanahan’s. After all, he had a former #1 overall pick in Jared Goff to work with before trading a fortune for another former #1 overall pick in Matt Stafford to reach his two Super Bowls (winning one). He’s yet to show he can turn water into wine with an unknown, young QB.

Whatever happens with Ryan Grubb in Seattle, the most beneficial aspect of his offense might be for it to be user friendly. Hopefully it can be effectively brilliant, as Shanahan’s is. That’s the tricky part. But it would be a major boon for the Seahawks if they were able to create a functioning, productive offense that doesn’t require absolute brilliance at the quarterback position.

That’s easy to say, of course. But maybe there’s cause for optimism?

I finally watched the Titans game today after arriving back in the UK. I was impressed with Sam Howell’s first half. Again, you have to note the fact it’s just a pre-season game against mostly backups. He still made some good throws, moved the offense without a number of top weapons being on the field and he looks increasingly confident and comfortable after a reportedly tricky start to camp.

Grubb and Kalen DeBoer enjoyed success with different types of quarterback in college. Jake Haener and Michael Penix Jr couldn’t be more different in terms of arm strength yet both put up monster numbers.

Can the same thing happen in the pro’s, even if adaptations are required?

This could be the future defining factor in terms of legit contention. The NFL’s in a bit of a weird place at the moment. Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are currently ranked 11th and 13th respectively in terms of average annual cap hit. Kirk Cousins’ average is the same as Mahomes’. The following players average more:

Deshaun Watson
Kyler Murray
Jalen Hurts
Jared Goff
Tua Tagovailoa
Trevor Lawrence
Jordan Love

You can easily make an argument that the key for the Seahawks is to avoid placing another name on this list. They don’t need to end up paying someone +$50m a year who isn’t amazing. It might be considered ‘market value’ if a player performs at a comparable level to Goff or Tagovailoa to give them such a salary. I’d argue the aim should be to try and find that same level of performance, at least, yet at a cheaper cost.

I think teams are becoming increasingly scared of the alternative. They think that a base line of production, making you somewhat competitive, is worth paying a fortune for. It’s just my personal opinion but I think if I was an owner, I’d rather empower my GM by taking the pressure off. Seek brilliance — don’t waste my money on a player who gets 10-wins and then bows out in the first two weeks of the playoffs. Take risks, be prepared to move on and look for greatness, rather than settle for less at a massive price.

And in the meantime, have an offense that enables you to be successful without requiring the best of the best under center.

Purdy will cost the 49ers $1m this year. He’ll probably enable San Francisco to outperform most (if not all) NFC opponents. Yes he’ll be aided by a loaded roster — but that’s partly because they can afford to pay everyone else with the quarterback not earning $50m a year.

Next year, I wouldn’t put Purdy’s name among the $50m list above if I were the 49ers. If Shanahan insisted it was best to make him a $50m man, I suppose you wouldn’t argue against him. I’m not sure that’s what he’ll think though.

This is ultimately what I hope for with Grubb in Seattle. I hope his system is so good that really, the Seahawks can be quite relaxed about the need to pay a quarterback. If they acquire greatness somehow and land the next superstar young QB — that’s different, clearly. Until that happens though, it’d be great to have a system like San Francisco’s where players can be placed within it — and thrive — at a value cost.

It’d provide such a significant edge against other teams throwing money at non-elite QB’s.

It’ll be some time yet before we can determine whether Grubb has this ability, as he and DeBoer did in college. They turned Haener from a Washington backup into a 9,120, 68-touchdown passer at Fresno. They had Penix Jr on the brink of the Heisman and a National Championship after he left Indiana basically known as an injury-hit fun-but-inconsistent afterthought.

Given how challenging it is to find brilliance at quarterback in college, even when you draft golden-boy talents with the #1 pick (see: Jacksonville) — creating a system that allows you to thrive with value could be a difference maker for the new era of Seahawks football.

It could also enable them to, in the future, throw some money at the offensive line if they’re making savings at QB.

I’m not saying it’ll be easy. I appreciate this is a discussion about an ideal scenario. It’s what I’m hoping for.

Under Pete Carroll, it always felt individual quality at quarterback was the key — especially in the post-Marshawn Lynch years. Can the Seahawks now become a great system offense? Can they be tactically brilliant? Can they find quarterbacks who fit, like the 49ers, to unlock opportunities to save money and exploit an edge over teams who, arguably, have paid too much on non-elite QB’s?

That could be the key to being a great team, at least until they can identify the long term future at quarterback — which as we’ve seen in the past, can take years.