The main functions of the NFL Scouting Combine are the medical evaluations, team meetings and on-field workouts, but the event also doubles as a weeklong info-gathering session for teams, agents and media. Many discussions happen formally and informally that end up shaping the rest of the offseason.
Here are the main Seattle Seahawks-related takeaways I had after five days in Indianapolis, which included news conferences with general manager John Schneider and coach Mike Macdonald:
Offense banking on experience, cohesion
Macdonald was one of the last head coaches hired in the 2024 cycle and had to play catch-up in terms of assembling a staff, which ended up featuring a collection of assistants either lacking experience, unfamiliar with one another or both. Most notably, offensive coordinator Ryan Gubb had never coached in the NFL, and he brought with him offensive line coach Scott Huff, who also had zero NFL experience. The timing of Macdonald’s hires coupled with inexperience and a lack of familiarity made for a high degree of difficulty last season.
The Seahawks are counting on avoiding those issues this year. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has over 10 years of experience coaching in the NFL. Offensive line coach John Benton and run game coordinator Rick Dennison have decades of experience. Assistant offensive line coach and run game specialist Justin Outten and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko have been in the NFL since at least 2016. All four of these assistants have experience with Kubiak.
Macdonald felt it was important for Kubiak to have assistants with whom he has a prior relationship, and he plans to lean on their experience.
“With this particular scheme there’s a lot of nuances that take the test of time to iron out all the details,” Macdonald said. “So, it’s not like we have to go back through steps one through whatever to get up and running. That was really important. These guys are some of the best in the business, too, so to be able to add great coaches to your staff, great experiences, different types of skill sets and thoughts and backgrounds I thought was important as well.”
Experience and familiarity do not guarantee success, of course. But after firing Grubb due in large part to philosophical misalignment, it makes sense for Macdonald to prioritize cohesion this offseason. Seattle hasn’t had a clearly defined offensive identity since at least 2018. If nothing else, Kubiak’s wide zone scheme has a clearly defined plan for attacking defenses.
The Seahawks are hoping that plan leads to a better performance up front. Macdonald said he’s fond of the wide zone scheme because it allows the offensive linemen to run off the ball rather than try and consistently move defensive linemen off their spot. Facing that scheme “feels a certain way on defense,” Macdonald said, and he wants his opponents to feel that when going against his unit. He’s putting faith in Kubiak and his guys to find ideal fits up front.
Schneider knows the Seahawks need to be better at identifying and developing offensive line talent. Free agency will be part of the process, but I get the sense that instead of spending big there, Seattle hopes to improve its draft-and-develop strategy in part because of the people added to its staff.
“These guys have a great track record of evaluating guys and developing them,” Macdonald said. “We have some people in-house, too, that we’re really (excited about). The guys we have on our roster are good at this scheme. I’m excited to develop these guys and see where they go.”
Whether all this translates to success will be determined during the season, but Seattle has at least checked the first box on the path toward having something it can hang its hat on offensively.
More Metcalf
In response to a question about DK Metcalf being second in targets behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Macdonald noted that Metcalf was among the NFL’s most targeted receivers before the knee injury in Week 7 that caused him to miss two games. Metcalf was fifth in targets and fourth in receiving yards through Week 6. Macdonald referred to those first six weeks as the type of offensive involvement they want for Metcalf this season.
“We want to get the ball to DK,” Macdonald said. “We want to make sure he’s a focal point of our offense.”
Schneider was asked where things stand with Metcalf. He repeated the question as if confused by the premise.
“Where things stand? I’m not sure,” Schneider said with a laugh. “He’s on our team. He’s a big, strong, fast, physical receiver.”
On Friday, Emerald City Spectrum reported that the Seahawks are entertaining offers for the 27-year-old Metcalf, who is entering the final year of his contract. The outlet reported that the Packers and Seahawks have discussed a potential Metcalf trade and Green Bay believes it has the framework for a package that would be accepted by Seattle.
Player-acquisition talks can be fluid as the offseason progresses, but all the messaging from Seattle since the end of the season has been that the team failed to adequately involve him in the offense last year. The team currently is focused on avoiding that same mistake in 2025. Given the team’s goal of being a championship contender in 2025, Metcalf would figure to be more involved in the offense under Kubiak.
QB patience
Macdonald is all in on extending Geno Smith’s contract, which is due to expire after the 2025 season. This is not a surprising revelation from the guy who said last month that the Seahawks can win a championship with Smith, but it was another reminder that the team is in no rush to get rid of its current signal caller. The Seahawks and Smith’s representatives had a meeting scheduled for Friday to discuss a contract extension.
“We hope to get an extension with Geno,” Schneider said Thursday on his KIRO-AM radio show. “Geno knows he’s our guy. We love him and we want to keep going forward.”
The Seahawks came out of the last three drafts comfortable with their two quarterbacks and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case after the 2025 draft as well. In the 2023 and 2024 drafts, opinions were all over the place regarding the guys outside the consensus first-round picks, and this year feels similar. Schneider wants to select a quarterback this year, but he won’t force a pick in the name of need while feeling strongly about Smith and holding out hope for Sam Howell, who will turn 25 in September and has a cap hit of just $1.1 million.
This is perceived to be a good-not-great crop of quarterbacks, and I didn’t come away from Indianapolis with much of a consensus about the class other than Cam Ward being QB1. It will be interesting to see how the first round unfolds for the rest of the quarterbacks — I can see Jaxson Dart and Shedeur Sanders being the other two Day-1 guys — but this feels like another year when the second or third day of the draft is a better time for Seattle to take a swing.
I had the Seahawks selecting Quinn Ewers in the fifth round of this mock draft, and there’s nothing about it I would change after a week at the combine. Another name I’d add is Will Howard, the 84th prospect on ’s big board. He’s big and tough with a strong arm, and the type of competitor who’d likely do well in a preseason battle with Howell for the backup job.
Overall, I’m not sure how many starters there are in this quarterback class, which is why, at least as of now, I envision Seattle focusing on more urgent positions of need — offensive line, defensive line, cornerback — particularly with its early picks.
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