SEATTLE — First-year Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald was dissatisfied with his team’s lack of balance on offense, and that cost offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb his job.
Grubb was fired Monday, a day after the Seahawks concluded a 10-7 season with a 30-25 victory over the NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams. He oversaw an offense that finished 28th in the league in rushing while quarterback Geno Smith set franchise records.
“We did a lot of great things,” Macdonald said. “It’s just my vision for our offense, I think, is just ultimately was different than where I thought (Grubb) thought it was going.”
Seattle finished with the same record as the Rams but missed out on the NFC West title because of the strength-of-victory tiebreaker, which made Sunday’s game mostly meaningless. It was a one-win improvement over the Seahawks teams that went 9-8 in 2022 and ‘23 under Pete Carroll, and Macdonald said reaching double-digit victories was meaningful.
The Seahawks finished one game out of a wild-card playoff spot.
“Coming out of the weekend, I thought our guys did a tremendous job of staying focused on what our new goal was, finishing the year the right way,” Macdonald said.
The Seahawks had an up-and-down season under Macdonald, who was hired after coordinating Baltimore’s top-ranked defense in 2023. They got off to a 3-0 start but then lost five of six as the defense struggled. Through nine games, the Seahawks had the 25th-ranked defense in the NFL. They were 20th against the pass, 26th against the run, and 23rd in scoring defense.
Things began to click after the Week 10 bye, and the Seahawks won four straight to move into first place in the division. Star defensive end Leonard Williams, cornerback Devon Witherspoon and a midseason acquisition in linebacker Ernest Jones IV provided the defense with a boost.
But two straight home losses to playoff-bound NFC North foes Green Bay and Minnesota doomed the Seahawks’ playoff chances.
Individual milestones
Smith threw for 4,320 yards to break his own franchise record and completed 70.4% of his passes, becoming the 20th NFL quarterback to finish with a completion percentage of 70% or higher.
Second-year receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished with 100 receptions, tying teammate Tyler Lockett’s franchise record.
Williams had a career-high 11 sacks, and safety Julian Love had a career-best 12 passes defensed.
Next steps
Improving the offensive line should be a top offseason priority. Second-year center Olu Oluwatimi did an admirable job after veteran Connor Williams abruptly retired in mid-November, but injuries and ineffectiveness up front contributed to Smith being sacked 50 times, third most in the league.
At more than $8 million over the 2025 salary cap, Seattle also has some hard decisions ahead. Lockett has a cap hit of almost $31 million next season, and with Smith-Njigba supplanting him as the Seahawks’ top receiver, he is likely to be cut if he can’t agree to a restructured deal.
Macdonald will also need to find a replacement for Grubb who can install a balanced attack that takes pressure off the defense.
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