Ryan Grubb's Path to Seahawks OC Role Hits a Roadblock

An unfulfilled preseason promise led to unrealized playoff potential, and an offensive coordinator who has probably seen his final days in Seattle.

Ryan Grubb’s pants are on fire.

A few weeks ago, per ESPN’s Brady Henderson, that infamous meeting between John Schneider, Mike Macdonald and Ryan Grubb at Dino’s Pub in Renton in February probably included a pitch from Grubb that he could lead a more balanced offense in the NFL.

Before Grubb got the job, he had to convince Macdonald that he could shift gears towards a balanced offense after coordinating some of college football’s most pass-heavy attacks at Washington and Fresno State while working for head coach Kalen DeBoer.

That never materialized, and the Seattle Seahawks are on the outside looking in for the 2024 playoffs atop the most lopsided offense in the NFL.

Heading into Week 18, Seattle has 22.4 rush attempts per game.

Look at this stack of winners:

Tied for second-last in the league, the Seahawks ran the ball 16 times against the Green Bay Packers and 15 times against the Minnesota Vikings before finally mustering 25 attempts against the Chicago Bears. In the two losses, five of those carries were not even from running backs.

But is it really as askew as all that? No, it’s actually far worse.

Several of those teams at the bottom of rush offense have also run the fewest plays in the league. Put the Jets, Carolina Panthers, and Jacksonville Jaguars in that camp.

Seattle, however, is smack in the middle of the NFL at 19th, 61.1 plays per game.

Following that, the Seahawks are 4th-highest at 3.3 sacks per game, meaning of the plays that don’t technically count for either a run or a pass in the stat sheet, were called pass plays.

Let’s take some of that math, as a percentage of the total offense.

Rushing plays:

SEATTLE
35.7% of total offense

JETS (the other worst team)
35% of total offense

LOS ANGELES RAMS (unlikely division winner)
42.7% of total offense

ARIZONA CARDINALS
43.2% of total offense

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
44.1% of total offense

In neutral game scripts, Seattle is one of the most pass-heavy teams in the league.

I dunno, man.

What really got me this year was even DK Metcalf went after this concept. DK freaking Metcalf, currently playing nowhere near his peak performance while battling a couple injuries, suggested his team should run the ball more:

I don’t remember a receiver saying that before. Coach Macdonald can talk about running the ball all he wants, but once the players themselves joined the fray it felt like a death blow to the team’s belief in how the offensive coordinator is....coordinating the offense.

Complaints have become whispers, and rumors have become convictions that the Seahawks could part ways with Grubb in the coming days. We have no reports of which to speak, but I place myself firmly in the camp of those who went from summer optimist to putrid disappointment. Like with rookies, it’s hard to project what specific NFL nuances will be difficult for somebody to pick up, yet Grubb’s steadfast refusal to attempt a consistent run game outside of one drive against the Chicago Bears was not something I had predicted.

It was fun to dream about what the University of Washington’s success could look like in Seattle. Instead, it was an uninspired disaster much of the time, and leaves the offense with massive questions yet unanswered heading into the offseason.