Mike Macdonald intends to win playoff games in 2025 – and he has a pretty clever plan for making sure it happens.

It’s called familiarity. He is returning nearly his entire 10^th-ranked defense from 2024 (and making it better), and he his putting together an offense that he expects to literally hit the ground running.

It started with bringing in a veteran offensive staff full of guys who had worked together before. Macdonald knew Klint Kubiak would bring run game coordinator Rick Dennison, offensive line coach John Benton and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. All have worked with him in the past.

Then, when free agency began this week, Kubiak was key in the Seahawks recruiting both Sam Darnold and Marquez Valdes-Scantling – who both know Kubiak and the offense.

Then came Cooper Kupp, who knows the Sean McVay arm of the Mike Shanahan offense (which Darnold also ran in Minnesota under Kevin O’Connell).

Macdonald and Kubiak have cut down the learning curve massively and clearly are doing everything they can to make sure the Hawks come out of the gates fast in September.

“Klint was one of the big reasons I signed here, just being familiar with him and the style of offense that he wants to run here,” Darnold said. “He was very key in my ability to learn the system when I was in San Francisco.”

MVS scored four touchdowns in eight games with Kubiak and the Saints last season, and he averaged over 22 yards per catch. He clearly likes Kubiak’s scheme.

“It was very similar to what I ran when I was in Green Bay,” said MVS, who spent his first four years with the Packers. “It was under that same Shanahan family. I had a lot of success with that play action and taking shots down the field. That’s what I’ve done really well for my career — and being able to get back to doing that, that’s been good.

“He’s also given me opportunities to showcase my game in other ways. Not just ‘Hey throw the ball down the field.’ He’s given me a chance to catch on the routes, slants and screens.

“Explosive, and that’s what I love about it. I think he’s done a good job of manipulating defenses and getting his playmakers the ball in different ways. A lot of shifts, a lot of motions. Just getting the defense to see the same thing but we’re doing something different.”

Jaxon Smith-Njigba played in the McVay version of the Shanahan offense for a year under Shane Waldron. He was not a fan of that offense as Waldron ran it, but he should end up liking Kubiak’s scheme.

Some are arguing that the Hawks have two slot receivers – because JSN and Kupp both worked out of the slot a lot last year. But these guys can play anywhere. JSN should build on his breakout 2024 season. If the Hawks get 14 games out of Kupp, that will be a win. They also should be looking to add a receiver on Day 2 of the draft.

The passing game has seen the most change in personnel, but this offense will be built on the running game – which starts with Kubiak’s wide zone scheme. The Hawks are still looking to fortify their line, but they also are relying on their run game coaches – Dennison, Benton and Justin Outten – to create a top-12 ground attack. Dennison has consistently done that over his long career.

When he was hired, Kubiak said, “I feel like (the run game) is important, because if you drop back 50 times in the game, it’s tough. You’ve got to be a balanced team. I think balance is important. Sometimes you’ve got to drop back 50 times to win the game, and sometimes you’ve got to run it 50 times. But when it all comes through, we want to be balanced, and we want to be able to win multiple ways.

“I think it’s important to establish a way of doing business here,” Kubiak added. “We’re going to start with that being an outside zone (team), but obviously we’re going to incorporate gap schemes, inside zones, pin-and-pull. We’ve gotta do what our players do best.”

It helps that they are adding players who already have done it in this system – and that should enable this offense to ramp up quickly and be productive from the get-go in 2025.

It’s a smart plan by Macdonald and Kubiak.