Seahawks fire offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb

SEATTLE – Ryan Grubb, hired to much fanfare as the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator last February, was fired after less than a year with the team, the Seahawks announced Monday.

“I just think we need to go in a different direction,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said during his radio show on Seattle Sports 710. He said the decision was made Monday morning following the Seahawks’ 30-25 win over the Rams on Sunday afternoon in the team’s regular-season finale.

Macdonald said he would not go into specific reasons for the change.

“It’s really as simple as I felt the direction our offense was going was different than the direction that I had for the team, and I felt like it was a necessary decision at this point,’’ Macdonald said.

“I felt like the direction our offense was going was different than vision that I had for our team. And it was a necessary decision at this point. Ryan’s a heck of a football coach. We did some really great things on offense this year. I mean, (quarterback) Geno (Smith), I think, had a bunch of career highs throwing the ball, and we did some really cool situation stuff. I know (receiver) Jaxon (Smith-Njigba) had a great year.

“So we did a lot of great things. It’s just my vision for our offense, I think, is just ultimately was different than where I thought Ryan thought it was going.”

That likely is a reference to Grubb’s inability to get the running game going the way the Seahawks wanted this season as they finished 29th in rushing attempts (383), 28th in rushing yards (1,627) and 17th in rushing yards per attempt (4.2).

When Macdonald was announced as the new head coach on Feb. 1, he cited the desire for the Seahawks to be “a physical football team” on offense.

The Seahawks struggled to do that this season as they were held under 100 yards rushing eight times despite the presence of two running backs taken in the second round of the NFL draft – Kenneth Walker III (2022) and Zach Charbonnet (2023).

Macdonald sounded especially frustrated about the direction of the offense after a 29-20 loss to the New York Giants, who finished 3-14. The Seahawks had just 11 runs compared to 40 pass attempts.

“We all know we need to run the ball more,” Macdonald said. “Everybody knows that; our opponents know that. Our players in our locker room know that, Grubb knows that, our coaches do and I do. We have to create more situations where we can run it as well. And that’s a team stat as well. So that’s all three phases where we have to create those.”

The Seahawks passed the ball on 62.82% of plays in 2024, the fifth-highest passing percentage in the NFL. Macdonald came to Seattle after spending all but one season from 2014-23 with the Baltimore Ravens, who annually rank near the top in run-play percentage. The Ravens threw it just 47.49% of the time this year, the second lowest in the NFL.

And in December, Macdonald at one point lamented the offense’s lack of play-action passes. “We do have a good play-action pass game,” he said. “Probably should see more of it.”

Grubb came to the Seahawks from UW along with offensive line coach Scott Huff, who was with the Huskies since 2017. Asked if Huff remains aligned with Grubb or if his status is still under consideration, Macdonald said: “It’s still in consideration. I would say it’s fair (to say) they were aligned coming in, but now he’s a Seahawk.”

Macdonald said the Seahawks will begin the search for a new offensive coordinator immediately.

“We’re going to open it up and do our research and be thorough with it,’’ he said. “We want to be efficient, we want to move quickly, but we want to be smart, as well. Just looking for the right fit on the type of person that’s going to come in and lead our offense.”

Macdonald said he will be looking for “alignment and shared vision in how we want to operate.”

Grubb was hired by the Seahawks on Feb. 13, roughly two weeks after Macdonald came on as head coach. He came to the Seahawks following a successful two-year run at the University of Washington and a brief stint at Alabama. He was entrusted to run the offense with Macdonald concentrating on the defense.

Macdonald said on his radio show of getting an earlier start in hiring a new OC this year that “I think it makes a huge difference.”

After a solid start to the season the offense floundered down the stretch, ranking 14th in total yards (332.2 per game) and 18th in points (22.1 per game) and struggling to get the running game going with any consistency.

After several games Grubb accepted blame for not running the ball enough and throughout the year expressed that he wished the team’s running game was more effective.

Two possible candidates include Jake Peetz, who spent this season as the Seahawks’ offensive passing-game coordinator. He spent the previous two years with the Los Angeles Rams working under Sean McVay and was the offensive coordinator at LSU in 2021. Mike Kafka was the offensive coordinator with the Giants the last three seasons and was interviewed for the Seahawks’ head-coaching job last year and was said to have made a positive impression. Before taking over as OC with the Giants, Kafka worked under Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2017-21.

When he talked to the media Thursday, Grubb noted the issues the team had on the offensive line this season, which included starting four different right tackles, struggling to solidify the right guard spot and seeing veteran free agent center Connor Williams struggle and surprisingly retire during the bye week following the ninth game.

“I think there’s a long ways for that to go,” Grubb said of the running game Thursday. “I think obviously for us, the consistency in the O-line early in the season, I think, would be something that could help us a lot. Where we’re not melting through things and getting new centers and things like that. I’m not trying to make an excuse, I do think that will help, though if you can have some early consistency.

“… So, I think there are things after the bye week that we certainly have done better after we’re able to kind of regroup and put a study on those things. So, I think the continuity piece, knowledge, and then I do think there’s an ownership to the physicality of how we should play and finish that we’ve got to get better at.”

Smith, who set team and personal records in attempts (578), yards (4,320), completions (407) and completion percentage (70.4) this season, launched something of a defense of Grubb following Sunday’s game and indicated he expected to continue working with him.

“I think Grubb is an excellent coordinator and an even better man,” Smith said. “Our first year, obviously there were some ups and downs. There were some things that we can improve on, and we’ll work hard to get those things fixed. But I believe in this system. I believe this is a really good system and it’s going to be really good for a long time.

“I think Grubb has exactly what it takes to be a great coordinator in this league. It’s his first year. You have to give the guy some grace. He’s figuring things out too. I thought he did an outstanding job leading the group. I love the passion that he brings to the game, and he made me a better quarterback.”