Thankfully, there are only a few days of disrespect left for the Seattle Seahawks and their new coaching staff this offseason. Ever since Pete Carroll was fired in January and Mike Macdonald was brought in to replace him, this team has been receiving disrespect from fans, pundits, analysts, and in some cases, their own NFL peers.
The latest dose of disregard comes courtesy of a poll conducted by The Athletic that asked league executives to rank all 16 teams in the NFC. For some reason, the Seahawks only landed ninth on the list.
Apparently, officials are skeptical about trusting a coaching staff that largely lacks experience at this level. Here’s what one of them said about Seattle.
NFL executive on the Seahawks coaching staff for 2024:
“I think these guys are really good coaches … It’s just unprecedented that guys have no NFL experience whatsoever. Macdonald had some, but (offensive line coach Scott) Huff and Grubb had zero. We’re talking about a run game coordinator and an offensive coordinator who have never coached in the game.”
Nonsense. There are plenty of coaches and assistants around the league who have plenty of experience and can secure their spot because of their relationships with the owners or their connections with the rest of the team. In fact, the reason we’re so excited about this team is because their team will bring fresh ideas and a different approach than Carroll’s team.
Seattle should be ranked at least seventh in the conference (ahead of Atlanta and Chicago) at the start of the new season.
Speaking of number seven, another big part of the problem as we perceive it is that even the average NFL executive may not know how good Geno Smith has become. If they haven’t watched the Seahawks regularly over the past two seasons, they may still be clinging to their first impressions of Smith formed early in his career with the New York Jets. Geno is, of course, a radically better QB today than the version we saw in 2013-2014, and he has played at a level approaching top-10 for much of the past two years.
At least the Seahawks are off to a soft start. They should be able to hold their own against both the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots in Weeks 1-2. If they can also beat the Miami Dolphins in Week 3, we know they are a real playoff threat.
