One of the most memorable moments of this off-season for Seahawks fans was the night of February 9th. John Schneider had made the big decision to hire Mike Macdonald as the new head coach just ten days earlier, and the newly minted duo had immediately turned their attention to what would probably be their next most important hire. Rumors had started spreading about Ryan Grubb leaving Alabama to come back to Seattle even after he had been announced to Crimson Tide boosters as their new coordinator. Then, news broke by way of Twitter drive-by photography that Schneider, Macdonald, and Grubb were having a drink at Dino’s Pub. Two days later, Scott Huff joined his friend Grubb as the new offensive line coach. These two men will have a massive influence over the direction of the Seahawks. Some of those changes are already being felt.
Geno Smith leads the NFL in passing yards. His 1,985 yards passing is the third-highest total in franchise history in the first seven games of a season. The names of other quarterbacks to do that over the last few seasons are guys like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow. D.K. Metcalf has 568 yards receiving, ranking 4th in the NFL. He is on pace for a career-high 1,379 yards. Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the team in receptions (37), and is on pace for a career-high 90 catches. He and Metcalf rank 11th and 12th in the NFL in receptions.
All of this is happening during a season when the NFL has seen passing yards per game (209.8 yards/game) drop to the lowest level in decades.
Seattle ranks 8th in scoring, but has scored 23+ points in six of their seven games, which is tied for the league lead. They are also one of only four teams to score at least 20 points in every game this season.
Kenneth Walker III ranks 4th in the NFL in touchdowns. He is on pace for a career-high in receptions (56) and touchdowns (15). That, despite missing two games due to injury and playing one game while ill.
You might expect jubilation amongst Seahawks fans given these sterling numbers, but the general sentiment has been a shoulder shrug or even disappointment. Never mind that Mahomes and Jordan Love are tied for the league lead in interceptions or that Trevor Lawrence, Dak Prescott, and Tua Tagovailoa are making teams question their massive contracts. Seahawks fans seem unimpressed.
Grubb inherited a mixed bag. Smith and the skill players around him are excellent. The offensive line was far from it. That is where Huff comes in.
There was no guarantee Huff would agree to join Grubb in Seattle. Was it a hard choice?
“No, no,” Huff said during a recent conversation after practice. “I mean, obviously the opportunity to coach at Alabama in terms of college football is awesome. I loved my time at University of Washington, but to get an opportunity to coach for the Seattle Seahawks, yeah, that was a no brainer. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Huff and his wife moved to Seattle eight years ago and learned quickly what the Seahawks mean to the city.
“The first thing you figure out really quick when you have kids is like [Blue] Fridays,” Huff said. “Like you got to get the kids Seahawks gear or they’re outcasts at school.”
One of the big differences between college and the pros is the breadth and depth of the personnel department. Most general managers will work closely with coaches to acquire players who fit what the coach is looking for at their position. This is especially true with the offensive line.
Seahawks fans know well how vastly different offensive line draft choices can be depending on who is the coach. Tom Cable was known for drafting players he could mold into what he wanted as opposed to finished products. He would go as far as taking defensive players like J.R. Sweezy and converting them to offensive linemen.
Schneider has taken the heat for the Seahawks poor track record in drafting offensive linemen, and the process is ultimately his responsibility. That said, collaboration with the line coach and his ability to develop players is crucial to building a good line. Huff is adjusting to that partnership.
“We had a personnel department at UW,” Huff said. “Obviously not nearly the size as we have here, but, you know this organization is first class. I think more than anything, you’re just trying to learn and see how they see things, what we see, from your background or recruiting and stuff, but it’s been awesome.”
It will take some time to see how that pairing develops. Seattle spent three draft picks this year on offensive linemen. Two of them were later round selections in Mike Jerrell of University of Findlay and Sataoa Laumea from University of Utah in the 6th round. That both made the initial 53-man roster is a good sign. That Jerrell has developed enough to get a two starts as a rookie is an even better sign. Huff was pleased with his protege’s first start.
“I was really encouraged,” Huff said. “It’s crazy what confidence does for anybody, right? We always say confidence is cash. You can tell right away that he was starting to figure it out and get some confidence. Was it perfect? No. Is it a great starting point? Absolutely.”
Laumea has been asked to convert from a college tackle to a guard, and the team spent a third-round pick on another guard in Christian Haynes, who has been rotating with second-year player Anthony Bradford. Laumea is a player Huff has known for a while.
“Sataoa was a guy that I had actually recruited a little bit when he was coming out of high school,” Huff said. “We ended up filling up [our scholarship spots], but he was a guy that I really liked. So once he went to University of Utah, we obviously played in the same conference and had a lot of respect for the football program. He was known. He was a really good player.”
With Jerrell, it was the raw potential that caught his eye.
“You could just see like the athleticism jump out on tape,” Huff said. “It was smaller school football, but you’re like, geez, you know, big guys that can move like that, it doesn’t matter where they’re from.”
Fans want to see everything fixed instantly. The state of offensive line talent in the NFL makes that difficult. What you hope to see is the ability to identify talent and develop it. There are some positive and negative early signs.
Charles Cross was the 9th overall pick in 2022 for the Seahawks. He had two middling seasons prior to Huff’s arrival. He has broken out this year, and is playing his best football. Jerrell was someone most teams would not have drafted, but Huff had a hand in his selection and helped him prepare to be the 4th-string starter by week seven after never having played higher than Division II in college.
Neither Haynes or Bradford have seized the starting right guard spot. Each, though, has had moments where they seemed to take a step forward. Both may have had their best games against Atlanta. Macdonald has said the competition seems to be helping them improve so far and that the rotation is still what is best for the team. However, there are some players like Dominick Puni of the 49ers who were taken a few picks after Haynes who have had far more impressive rookie seasons.
Seattle entered the season without any two players on the offensive line having played with the guy next to them. Cross and Laken Tomlinson have at least been healthy enough to work on their chemistry. Connor Williams came in late as a free agent and is just now starting to seem comfortable and confident in his role. Right guards are changing and right tackles are changing.
That won’t stop, but hopefully in a good way. George Fant is close to coming back from injured reserve, and Abe Lucas is tentatively slated to come off PUP after the bye when the team travels to play San Francisco.
The lack of familiarity, the inexperience, and the shifting parts, have made it challenging for the offense to play the way Grubb would like, or establish the identity he seeks.
“I think for this team, with the type of runners we have and things like that, we do want a physical style of play,” Grubb said. “We’ve been emphasizing that quite a bit over the last couple of weeks of what it should look like when we’re finishing football plays. That’s something that me and Mike (Macdonald) are very much linked in a mindset. One of the things that when we were going through this process of getting the offense [to have] more of a physical mentality, a finish mentality that when you put the film on, people are like, ‘Man, that’s going to be a long night.’ We’re just not there yet, honestly, and I know the guys are committed to trying to get through that process and do what’s supposed to be done.”
The return of Lucas could be a big step down that path if he can return to the form he showed as a rookie. Many fans assume he will never be the same player. The less discussed option is that he will be better. That might seem unrealistic, but consider how many players make leaps from their rookie season and how much time he has spent in the weight room preparing for his return. There is no doubt he is a stronger player than he was back then. Whether it translates to the field and he is able to stay out there is another thing.
Grubb has done an admirable job coaching around the challenges on the line. Huff has done well to take on this reclamation project and notch some notable wins while understanding they are far from a finished product. His approach to improving the line happens to match what his vision is for them.
“It’s consistency,” Huff said. “That’s the key to everything. You see there’s some things that are like, ‘Wow, that was really good!’ And there’s things that it’s, ‘Hey, we gotta be way better here.’ It’s just the consistency of the whole thing. And whether that’s the consistency of the lineup or whether that’s just the consistency of how we play, that’s something that we’re striving for.”