It was revealed on Saturday that Green Bay offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich has been interviewed to replace Ryan Grubb in Seattle. It’s the latest confirmed meeting, although it’s unclear if this was a virtual or in-person conversation.
After doing a bit of digging, I have to say the prospect of appointing him is a little bit underwhelming.
Let me be clear — I completely appreciate it’s difficult to get an angle on candidates in a positive or negative sense unless they have a track record. It’s easy to praise San Francisco bringing back Robert Saleh. He’s a proven deliverer of defensive results. All of the names linked to the Seahawks carry an element of the unknown.
If you’d have said a year ago that Liam Coen was going to be Seattle’s new offensive coordinator, my mind would immediately be drawn to his ill-fated year with the Rams. Yet 12 months on and he’s just been paid a massive contract to be Jacksonville’s Head Coach, after a great year in Tampa Bay.
We simply don’t have the intel to create highly informed opinions about these candidates. It’s why I’ve not gone overboard on hoping for anyone in particular. I have to be honest though, I’m not blown away by Stenavich. If he’s appointed, I’ll be as desperate for him to succeed as anyone else. I just have reservations.
Are they over-correcting too much? I appreciate fixing the offensive line and running game is a priority this off-season. Does that really mean you have to go and seek out an ex-offensive line coach, with no play-calling experience, to try and sort this out?
Both Hank Fraley and Stenavich have been praised for the work they’ve done in Detroit and Green Bay respectively. However, they’ve also been given great tools to work with. The Lions have pumped resources into their O-line. Green Bay has drafted very well. Yes, there’s an element of development too. But this isn’t hindsight — Elgton Jenkins and Zach Tom were huge blog favourites. The Packers were wise to draft them where they did and have benefitted from those decisions. It hasn’t all been glory and success either. Former second round pick Josh Myers hasn’t developed or shown his best football in Green Bay and he’s expected to be allowed to reach free agency in a few weeks.
We’re talking about two coaches who are working for exceptional offensive minds, working with talented players. Taking a coach like this, giving them play-calling responsibility, asking them to help rebuild a line and lead the entire offense is a whole different challenge.
Fixing the line and running game is important but not at the expense of two other really important things. One — the ability to sufficiently design, call and execute an offense properly. Two — having the skill to develop a young quarterback. Even if the Seahawks retain Geno Smith, this team needs to find a long term answer sooner rather than later. Committing to the running game and fixing a bad O-line can’t come at the expense of play-calling, tactical chops and QB development.
The last time the Seahawks gave a lot of power and control to an offensive line coach, it led to the Tom Cable years. I’m more inclined to say a better plan might be to get a good play-caller and offensive mastermind and then, you know, just do a better job drafting and signing offensive linemen.
On Fraley, watching his interviews you could see why they seemingly made him their top choice. His communication skills jump off the screen. It was very easy to imagine him leading an offense or even a team. It’s no surprise anyone who had worked with him was rushing out to praise him, with Frank Ragnow joking he would sabotage interviews with other teams to keep him in Detroit.
To be brutally honest, you don’t get that sense at all from Stenavich. He doesn’t carry the same presence during interviews. It was easy to imagine Fraley being the ‘Head Coach of the offense’ with the way he communicated, I’m afraid Stenavich doesn’t give off that same aura.
That interview feels a bit Waldron-y.
It’s also interesting to note that Stenavich only got the Green Bay OC job once Luke Getsy, their first choice to replace Nathaniel Hackett, had agreed to go and call plays in Chicago instead. The talk is that Getsy, who had two awful spells with the Bears and Raiders, will replace Stenavich if he departs.
I think you always need to be sceptical about coaches riding the coat-tails of top offensive leaders. Nathaniel Hackett certainly seemed to ride LaFleur and the last great spell of Aaron Rodgers’ career in Green Bay.
I also get the sense that LaFleur views the offensive coordinator position as interchangeable under his leadership. He is the offense in Green Bay. So he’s more than happy for his right-hand-man to interview for a sideways move that he could block, if there’s a chance to further a career and call plays. I worry that we’re talking about a fantastic lead singer and the Seahawks are going to go after the base player because he’s on the same stage.
Adam Stenavich interviewed for the Seattle Seahawks OC job, huh? I can't think of a more underwhelming loss if he were to get the job. He's a great OL coach, but the offense is designed, ran, and called by Matt LaFleur.
— Robin Adams (@theotherRobin19) January 26, 2025
I’m starting to think they probably should’ve hired Klint Kubiak when they had a clean run at it. He has play-calling experience already, he’s been the ‘head guy’ running an offense for a defensive-minded Head Coach and he showed some promise before injuries decimated New Orleans.
Now, with several other teams entering the OC market, he might have options — including working close to his family base in Houston.
He has contacts and could’ve brought in the likes of Rick Dennison and John Benton — who he took to New Orleans — to help with the offensive line and running game. It might not be a hire to instil confidence in the way Saleh does for San Francisco’s defense but it would’ve settled things down over a week ago and the Seahawks could’ve cracked on with plans for the off-season.
There’s still a chance they could turn to Kubiak. Or, admittedly, it’s possible he told the Seahawks he either wasn’t interested or wanted to keep his options open. But there was talk he was ‘in the drivers seat’ right up until Detroit’s unexpected loss to Washington, making Fraley available. It seems they spent a week trying to coax Fraley to come to Seattle and, understandably, he’s opted not to uproot his young family and stay in a job, with a promotion, which is very attractive in Detroit.
The problem for the Seahawks is they are three weeks removed from firing Ryan Grubb and three days removed, now, from Fraley’s decision to stay in Detroit. Now they might face competition for certain candidates from teams with more attractive roles available. I think it’s fair to wonder whether they’ve managed this search effectively. The only way to address that concern is to make a good appointment. I’m not sure Stenavich constitutes that.