Tag Archives: Geno Smith

Coaches, Contracts

Macdonald wants Geno as his QB, but ‘it’s a Seahawks decision’

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If Mike Macdonald has his way, Geno Smith will be back in 2025, playing under a new offensive coordinator and possibly an extension.

In his final presser of the season, Macdonald told reporters, “I want Geno to be here. … I feel like Geno is the best (quarterback) for the team right now.”

But Macdonald also indicated nothing is set in stone, which explains his cryptic answer the previous day on Seattle Sports 710 AM when asked if Smith would be back: “I guess yeah.”

Smith’s cap hit will be $44.5 million, which means the team could look at lowering it with an extension or perhaps even moving on if a deal cannot be reached. The latter seems very unlikely though — Smith is a top-15 QB (No. 13 by EPA over the past three years), and there are no better options for Seattle in 2025.

“Ultimately, it’s not my decision,” Macdonald said. “It’s a Seahawks decision. But Geno knows how we feel about him — and we love him as our starting quarterback, for sure.”

Continue reading Macdonald wants Geno as his QB, but ‘it’s a Seahawks decision’ →
Contracts

Geno and DK: Decisions, decisions

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Thanks to Ryan Grubb’s increasingly listless offense, John Schneider has some difficult decisions regarding Geno Smith and DK Metcalf in the coming offseason.

The 6-point performance in Chicago the day after Christmas was just the latest indicator that Grubb has had a negative effect on the quarterback and receiver.

Both players are still signed for another season, and Schneider needs to decide whether to extend one or both OR move on from one or both OR let them play out their deals — presumably under a new offensive coordinator.

Continue reading Geno and DK: Decisions, decisions →
Contracts, The roster, Week 16: Minnesota

Hawks need help now, so time to look to 2025

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Whenever we get to the point that the Seahawks need help to make the postseason, we start looking ahead to the offseason – because it typically means the team is not good enough to win in the playoffs even if it gets whatever assistance it needs to sneak in.

Mike Macdonald has done a pretty strong job in his rookie year, creating a strong defense and having the Hawks in position where they could have been 12-3 if they had not given away four games via their own errors.

They blew yet another one Sunday, letting Minnesota get away with a 27-24 win because the defense made some key mistakes that the enigmatic offense could not overcome in the end. So the Hawks sit at 8-7, which is exactly where we figured they would be when we projected out the season back in late August.

The Hawks can still make the playoffs if they beat the Bears and Rams AND (1) the Rams also lose to Arizona this week or (2) a whole bunch of other teams do their part over the final two weeks to give Seattle the strength-of-victory tiebreaker against the Rams.

We’ll let that sort itself out, but it’s time to start looking to the changes that need to be made in the offseason.

Continue reading Hawks need help now, so time to look to 2025 →
Coaches, Week 15: Green Bay

Debacle vs. Packers shows once and for all Grubb is not cut out for the NFL

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Apparently, it was too much to ask of Ryan Grubb to build off his first successful game in weeks.

Coming off a dominant 30-point outing against Arizona that featured a season-high 176 yards rushing, the big question was whether Grubb could keep it going. He had four more games to prove he was good enough to remain the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator after this season. But it took only one to answer that question.

The 30-13 debacle in a huge game against the Packers lands mostly on Grubb’s shoulders as the Hawks continued to regress on his side of the ball.

It is really hard to see Mike Macdonald being OK with Grubb as his OC in 2025. With the offense struggling for most of the past two months, we now have the same feeling about Grubb that we had about Pete Carroll in the final two months of last season: It will not get better without a big change.

Continue reading Debacle vs. Packers shows once and for all Grubb is not cut out for the NFL →
Week 15: Green Bay

Are Hawks among top NFC teams? We’re about to find out

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Mike Macdonald has been saying the Seahawks are in playoff mode since their Week 10 bye. The attitude, embodied by a suddenly dominant defense, has led to four straight wins.

The latest was a big division victory over Arizona that enabled the Hawks to stay in charge of their destiny.

Their next task is to prove they are among the top four teams in the NFC by beating Green Bay in prime time Sunday. The Packers’ only losses are to Detroit (twice), Philadelphia and Minnesota – who are a combined 34-5.

If the Hawks can beat the Pack, next up is Minnesota. If the Hawks can win both of those games, they would all but lock up a playoff spot – with a wild card being viable.

Continue reading Are Hawks among top NFC teams? We’re about to find out →
Coaches, X's & O's

If Grubb can’t turn offense around, will he be one & done?

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When Mike Macdonald hired Ryan Grubb to be his offensive coordinator back in February, we looked back through modern NFL history to find success stories from guys who had made the jump from college coordinator to NFL play caller. There were few to find.

In fact, a notable failure involved another former Husky, Steve Sarkisian, who joined Dan Quinn in Atlanta and promptly took that once vaunted offense backward.

We wrote then:

Grubb’s success or failure will come down to whether he can maximize his players. The biggest challenge for most play callers – certainly for Seattle’s last few – has been adjusting within games to what defenses are stopping. Grubb and company faced an NFL-style defense – one put together by Macdonald, in fact – in the title game against Michigan, and they had major trouble against it. Grubb will need to show he can adjust when his script fails. … It won’t be a shock if Grubb ultimately doesn’t have the answers.”

Well, Grubb has not proven to have the answers in his rookie season. And, if his unit continues to fail, it would not be a surprise if Macdonald followed Pete Carroll’s path and fired his OC after his first year as Seattle’s coach.

Continue reading If Grubb can’t turn offense around, will he be one & done? →
Week 12: Arizona, X's & O's

Defense is now ‘locked in,’ but can Hawks find key to offense, too?

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Mike Macdonald finally has his defense playing the way we all expected. After three pretty dominant weeks against NFC West foes, including a 16-6 clampdown of Arizona in Week 12, that unit looks capable of holding down most offenses the rest of the way and helping the Seahawks make the playoffs.

But the offense is going to have to start doing its part.

Before we get to the offense’s problems, let’s start with the defense’s turnaround, which hopefully has not come too late.

Continue reading Defense is now ‘locked in,’ but can Hawks find key to offense, too? →
Coaches, Week 11: At San Francisco

Win vs. 49ers pauses deserved criticisms — Can Hawks end them for good?

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John Schneider, Mike Macdonald and Geno Smith had been under fire for several weeks – dating back to the bad loss to the Giants that dropped the Seahawks to 3-2.

Since then, they had fallen to 4-5 – with the defense getting gashed game after game and Smith and the offense making tons of self-defeating mistakes.

The reputations of Schneider, Macdonald and Smith were waning along with their season as they prepared to play the 49ers, who had beaten them six straight times (counting playoffs). But Macdonald’s recalibrated defense and Smith’s rediscovered comeback mojo gave the desperate Hawks a much-needed 20-17 upset win, putting the Seahawks back in the NFC West race.

Back at .500 with a streak-busting win, the Hawks now need to take that confidence into a battle for first place against Arizona in Week 12.

The question is whether this big win over the 49ers foretells more big wins to come in a season that still presents a lot of tough challenges – the ninth-toughest remaining slate.

Let’s look at the role of each of the three central figures in how this team sank to 4-5 and then finally beat the 49ers.

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Week 9: L.A. Rams

All the ways the Hawks turned a blowout win into an overtime loss

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If and when the Seahawks decide to stop beating themselves, they are going to be hard to beat.

The question is whether they will indeed be able to stop giving games away to their opponents.

They should have beaten the Rams about 30-13 on Sunday, but instead they lost in overtime. Some great performances by the defense, Jaxon Njigba-Smith and Cody White went to waste because of the Three Stooges Act by Geno Smith, Connor Williams and Mike Jerrell.

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State of the team, X's & O's

Predictable problems and historic lack of takeaways are hobbling Hawks

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Before the season, we projected the Seahawks would win nine games. It was fewer than many optimistic fans were picking, but we saw a tough schedule and had big questions about the offensive line and run defense.

After a soft 3-0 start, the Hawks have come back to Earth against better teams and sit at 3-3 largely because their offensive line and run defense have failed them.  

They gave away the game against the Giants with mistakes in every phase, and then they followed that up by making a bunch more mistakes against the 49ers in a game they could have won if they had played it more cleanly.

“Right now, we’re just coming up short,” Mike Macdonald said. “We’re just not doing the things that good football teams do to win football games.”

Continue reading Predictable problems and historic lack of takeaways are hobbling Hawks →