Field Gulls Mailbag: Early offseason predictions, Ryan Grubb, Riq Woolen, and more

Which QBs will be on the Seahawks roster next season? What about Bobby Wagner?

Welcome to the latest edition of the Field Gulls Mailbag! It’s been a busy period for the Seattle Seahawks, who have filled all of their main coordinator positions on Mike Macdonald’s staff, but still have work to do to fill out the other assistant coaching roles. Then there’s the matter of what lies ahead for Geno Smith and Bobby Wagner this offseason, and whether or not Riq Woolen can bounce back from a disappointing second season.

Let’s dive right into it!

Fan divisiveness

Beyond internet discourse getting progressively nastier over the years (politics or otherwise), I think the Seahawks-specific cause is tied to Super Bowl XLIX. I think we would have felt a lot differently about Pete, Wilson, and the Seahawks’ window of title contention had they won multiple championships instead of only one. It’s really hard to win one, let alone two, but being that close to two absolutely had an impact on the team and the fanbase.

I also don’t think it’s helped that the recent lack of playoff success has coupled with the 49ers and Rams getting to the Super Bowl twice apiece with different quarterbacks. Thankfully, only one of those games has resulted in an actual Super Bowl win.

We’ve tasted the highest possible level of success, wanted more, and haven’t gotten all that close since XLIX. That, to me, is the root of the frustration.

Geno Smith’s future

I think the Seahawks keep Geno Smith but draft a quarterback within the first three rounds. John Schneider’s history with the Green Bay Packers indicates to me that he is content to let a QB sit in his rookie season instead of start him on Day 1. Hell, that’s basically what he said in 2011. It would be malpractice not to take a QB.

For all of the hypotheticals about Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and Schneider’s interest in both of them, neither one was QB1 at the start of their respective rookie seasons. Allen got thrust into the lineup early because Nathan Peterman would’ve gotten Sean McDermott fired.

Geno is not as prohibitively expensive as he’s made out to be, and I can see the Seahawks working out some sort of contract restructure over the final two years of his deal if they so choose.

Lastly, I do not think the Seahawks will keep Drew Lock. He’ll get a chance to compete for a starting job elsewhere. If Seattle doesn’t retain Geno, then there’s a chance Lock stays just to be in competition with a highly drafted rookie quarterback.

Bobby Wagner’s future

As a player? I’d say the odds are closer to 0 percent than 50/50. It’d be cool to have him as a coach or some sort of front office role.

Wagner can still be an effective downhill linebacker against the run and as a blitzer, but his overall athleticism (more specifically his lateral quickness) is clearly not what it once was. Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay have taken turns attacking him in the passing game and it’s sad to watch. I can’t see how he fits in Macdonald’s system when the linebackers in Baltimore played such an important role in the scheme’s success.

It would’ve been cool to have 2012-2015 Bobby in Macdonald’s defense. The 2024 version of Bobby is not something I envision working out well, the glossy PFF grades be damned. He’s been a great player, a great leader, and by all accounts a great person, but it’s time for newer options at linebacker.

Riq Woolen

I don’t think Woolen is a one-hit wonder, but the coverage busts and bad tackling (or non-tackling) are serious problems. There’s some sort of lack of discipline that is negatively impacting his game, which includes some of the penalties he’s committed. In fairness to him, he’s still relatively inexperienced at corner, and the offseason knee surgery had to set him back to some degree.

Woolen still showed high-level ball skills and was generally tight in coverage, but his mistakes were glaring and often times game-damaging. For those reasons alone I do not believe he should have his starting spot guaranteed entering next season. I hope he can bounce back in year three and that a lot of his struggles were both injury and coaching-related.

Breakout defensive candidate?

I also lean towards Mafe but also don’t rule out a healthy Uchenna Nwosu. The remaking of this defensive line is going to be so pivotal to how Macdonald’s defense operates, and I believe Mafe eventually ran out of steam once Nwosu went out and teams just started keying in on Boye more often.

How about the simplest answer of Devon Witherspoon? He’s already shown very impressive coverage skills, but his work as a blitzing corner off the edge seems like something Macdonald would covet. For all of Clint Hurtt’s faults, I think the Seahawks did a really good job with his early development. Macdonald could turn him into an All-Pro if all goes well.

Ryan Grubb

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have concerns about a direct college-to-NFL OC hire. I cannot think of a recent offensive coordinator with zero NFL experience as a player or assistant coach. Even Steve Sarkisian had a couple of NFL seasons under his belt as an assistant. As you mentioned, Kliff went from college to the NFL but as a head coach/play caller, and the results were not overly impressive. I think Chip Kelly as the personnel guy expedited Kelly’s failings as a coach. Urban Meyer doesn’t know who Aaron Donald is, so he doesn’t count.

The college game is, shall we say, a lot easier when it comes to attacking defenses. When college hashmarks are more than twice the width of NFL hashmarks (40 feet to 18.6 feet), it increases the difficulty for defenses to disguise pressure compared to their professional counterparts. Geoff Schwartz has a great explanation on this that you should check out.

There’s going to be an adjustment period for Grubb by default, and we’re probably going to find out very quickly how suitable his concepts work in the NFL. With that said, he’s shown adaptability within his college career. One thing that stands out to me is his offenses consistently result in low sack rates. Sure, the Huskies may have had multiple NFL-caliber starters on the line, but I don’t think that level of recruiting was happening at Fresno State and Eastern Michigan. I’m cautiously optimistic on Grubb.

Michael Macdonald

It somewhat depends on what John Schneider does with the roster, particularly at quarterback. Macdonald isn’t inheriting a terrible roster like Pete Carroll did in 2010. The Seahawks already have plenty of good, promising players on rookie contracts who are major contributors right now, so I don’t anticipate a full-scale rebuild because there is no need to do so. Schneider isn’t Mike Salk, so I think DK Metcalf is safe.

Regardless of wins and losses, the Seahawks need to look well-coached. Among my biggest gripes with the 2023 team was how disjointed and disorganized they often looked on both sides of the ball. Bad penalties, blown coverages, receivers running wrong routes, missed tackles, and poor eye discipline were prevalent on a weekly basis. The Keystone Cops routines have to stop.

It’s absolutely fair to assess Macdonald’s handling of the defense after his first full season. There is almost no way to be much worse than what we’ve witnessed, and if the Seahawks are even league-average it’ll feel like substantial progress.

Unless he goes full Jim L. Mora on us, I would assume he’ll get through at least two full seasons of his six-year deal, which is to say I believe that we’ll get a better picture of the Schneider/Macdonald partnership by the end of 2025.

A Doobie-ous hire?

Mike Macdonald will not wait until the 4th quarter to win football games? That’s what a fool believes. He’s looking to dominate minute by minute. This team is going to really feed off of the noise and energy of the 12s, which hasn’t really felt that loud in recent seasons. Mike is dependin’ on you not to sell your tickets to opposing fans and scream your head off when the other team is on offense!

Lastly, Macdonald knows the importance of a great rushing attack and the ability to play with a lead. If you have a big lead and a dominant offensive line, the game script keeps you runnin’.

Thanks to everyone for writing in their questions for this month’s mailbag. On Friday I’ll be on the Seahawks Forever Podcast with former Field Gulls Podcast host Dan Viens, so be on the lookout for that!