Last year, the Seattle Seahawks players and staff had to learn to gel. After some bumps along the way, it seems like familiarity is the approach this offseason.
Last year was the first free agency period of the Mike Macdonald era for the Seattle Seahawks. Contrary to popular belief, he didn’t lean on his past connections to fill out the coaching staff and roster. Sure, there were a few coaches that he had worked with in the past like Leslie Frazier and Kirk Olivadotti but the focus was on finding the best coaches possible and getting them up to speed together. It seemed to work on defense judging by their performance by the end of the season. The offense, however, was a different story and many on that side of the ball are no longer around.
The free agent additions also didn’t have a pattern of prior experience with Macdonald – something that would have been easy to imagine considering he was the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator, and they had plenty of free agents available. There was no Jadeveon Clowney or Geno Stone added to the roster. Instead, we got guys like Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker, both of whom were replaced by midseason.
Seattle has seemingly altered their approach this year as there’s a clear trend when looking at the offseason moves thus far.
Familiarity.
It started with the hiring of new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator in 2024. Mike Macdonald was a coaching intern with the Ravens in 2014 while Klint’s father, Gary, was the Baltimore offensive coordinator. Klint brought in OL coach John Benton and QB coach Andrew Janocko, who were on his staff last season. Rick Dennison, the new run game coordinator and senior offensive advisor, worked with both Klint and Gary throughout his long NFL career. Another new addition to the OL/run game staff is Justin Outten, who was the Denver Broncos OC in 2022 while Klint served as their passing game coordinator and QB coach. All these connections should theoretically allow the offensive staff to come together more quickly and avoid some of the pitfalls from last season.
That theme of familiarity has also cropped up in the roster decisions. Look no further than new starting QB Sam Darnold, who played for the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 while Klint Kubiak was serving as the passing game coordinator. The two new wide receivers that Darnold will be targeting also have ties with the offensive staff. Marquez Valdes-Scantling was a midseason addition to Kubiak’s offense last season in New Orleans and produced 411 yards and 4 TDs over 8 games. Cooper Kupp comes “home” to the Seahawks, who are very familiar with him as opponents for the last 8 seasons. Taking it a step further with Kupp, Seattle’s pass game coordinator, Jake Peetz, was on the Los Angeles Rams offensive coaching staff in 2022-2023 and helped coach Kupp.
Let’s not leave the defense out of this trend. Seattle’s DC Aden Durde coached free agent DL addition DeMarcus Lawrence to two Pro Bowls as the Dallas Cowboys’ DL coach from 2021-2023. Shemar Jean-Charles, an addition to the DB room, crossed paths with Olivadotti as a member of the Green Bay Packers in 2021-2022 and Klint Kubiak in 2023-2024 with both the 49ers and Saints. Seattle also re-signed Jarran Reed and Ernest Jones IV to multi-year contracts after they proved their worth in Mike Macdonald’s defensive scheme last year.
It certainly looks like Seattle has taken a targeted approach to filling out their team in 2025 with players and coaches who have connections with someone currently on staff. After falling short of the playoffs in 2024, they’re hoping that this familiarity will allow them to gel more quickly and lead to greater success in 2025.