It’s felt like this has been on the cards for weeks.
Ryan Grubb isn’t a bad coach. He and Kalen DeBoer crafted dynamic, explosive offenses at Fresno State and Washington. He was an intriguing candidate for the Seahawks a year ago and given the small pool of quality alternatives, he was worth taking a chance on.
However, this was the right move.
Plenty of defensive-minded Head Coaches fail because the offense never clicks. It’s vital for Mike Macdonald that he appoints an offensive coordinator who can effectively be the ‘Head Coach’ of the offense. That can’t be a NFL novice, learning the role as he goes along. It needs to be someone who has been in the league for a long time, has called plays before and has worked with great coaches in their career.
The Seahawks need someone who can bring together a complete vision for Macdonald, connecting a hard-nosed defensive identity with effective running and explosive plays. He talked on 710 Seattle Sports this morning, admitted their visions for the offense were not aligned. Macdonald needs ‘his guy’ for this to work.
Make no mistake, this is a huge hire. They have to get this right. But they couldn’t shirk the challenge and had to make the change.
Listening to Macdonald last week describe needing to put other coaches around Grubb to help him understand the different offensive DNA’s was eye-opening. This can’t be a developmental opportunity. Grubb had never coached in the NFL, was learning on the run and that wasn’t going to cut it. The next coordinator needs to be Macdonald: offensive version.
From route spacing, imperfect use of play-action, head-scratching situational decisions, the inability to get the right balance between pass and run, the predictability of his screen game, the bad red zone moments and the inability to make the most of Seattle’s weapons — they need a more experienced man running the offense.
Who could that be?
I think Jake Peetz has a great chance to be the next coordinator. He took his first NFL job in 2012 and has had many roles in the league – acting as a quarterback coach, running backs coach and passing game coordinator. He called plays at LSU and he’s worked with Sean McVay. Last year he was a hot name as a potential future NFL coordinator and it was a surprise he ended up in Seattle in a lesser position.
Shane Waldron flopped but other McVay-tree coaches – Liam Coen, Kevin O’Connell, Matt LaFleur – have thrived.
Doug Pederson will be mentioned. He touted the possibility of retirement last week if he was fired by the Jaguars – and that was confirmed today. His experience would be highly beneficial, he’s connected to Andy Reid (big for John Schneider I sense) and there’s little chance he would be poached for a third Head Coaching stint. Does he want to go back to being a coordinator, though?
Could they look at a big-time up-and-comer like Josh McCown in Minnesota? If Ben Johnson is serious about staying in Detroit, does Tanner Engstrand re-emerge as a target? Will they approach the Giants again about Mike Kafka?
My money is on Peetz. Macdonald has a connection to him now, clearly respects the McVay system and it would enable some continuity between players and staff.
This, to me, was the first move that had to be made. It’s a good start to Seattle’s off-season.
Here’s a live stream I conducted earlier discussing the news:
