Mike Macdonald’s first season as Seahawks head coach nearly saw the playoffs, but a middling offense ultimately held back Seattle.
As a result, the club moved on from offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb following the 2024 campaign and hired Klint Kubiak soon thereafter.
Geno Smith is one of the main reasons why Kubiak decided to come to the Pacific Northwest.
“[Geno] was a huge draw to come here and to get to coach him alongside (quarterbacks coach) Andrew Janocko, so we have high expectations for him,” the new Seahawks OC said during Tuesday’s introductory news conference. “We’re gonna push Geno and get the best out of him, and we’ll do that by pushing his teammates as well. It’s not just him. It’s a team thing, and he’s gotta be the head of that.”
Smith’s 4,320 passing yards in 2024 set a new single-season record for the franchise, passing a mark he set the previous year. The veteran QB also set a new career-high mark in completion percentage (70.4) during a campaign where the Seahawks’ rushing attack didn’t provide much help (95.7 rushing yards per game; 28th in NFL).
Seattle’s imbalance on offense was the crux that held it back. Smith did his best to carry the Seahawks through the air but ended up throwing the third-most interceptions in the NFL (15) along that effort. The Seahawks ended with a 10-7 record and were in contention for the NFC West as late as Week 17.
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“I think Geno is tough as nails,” Kubiak said. “I think, you look at the guy in the fourth quarter, he goes and wins football games. That excites me; that fires me up.
“You think about a guy that’s been through a lot of adversity, a guy that’s been knocked off the high horse and had to claw his way back into the starter’s role, and then comes back the last two years and wins more games in the fourth quarter more than anybody in the NFL — that’s a guy I want to coach.”
Since 2023, Smith has authored seven fourth-quarter comebacks and produced eight game-winning drives, leading the league in both categories during that span, per NFL Research. Entering the final year of his contract in 2025, Smith’s consistent play over the last three seasons is expected to result in a contract extension this offseason, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported on Sunday.
Kubiak spent last season as the OC in New Orleans. He started red-hot as the Saints produced 91 points through the first two games, but the offense quickly hit a rut and a seven-game losing streak soon followed, as did the midseason firing of head coach Dennis Allen.
With a fresh start in Seattle ahead, Kubiak believes he has the tools in place to be the answer that complements Macdonald’s burgeoning defense.
“No. 1 was to have a chance to work with Mike, to be on a team that’s coached with a dang good defense because you know how powerful that is,” Kubiak said. “We want to be able to contribute to that and play complementary football with them. Geno Smith, DK Metcalf, Jaxon (Smith-Njigba), Charles Cross. The list goes on. There’s a lot of dang good football players on this roster that I’d love to coach and I want to be a part of helping their careers and helping them so we can win as a team.”