The Seahawks spent last season looking like a team with an actual offensive blueprint, and that alone marked a major shift. Under Klint Kubiak, Seattle’s attack was organized, connected, and a lot harder to diagnose. The run game, the motion, the formations, and the passing game all seemed to be speaking the same language.
Now that Kubiak is gone, the spotlight shifts to Brian Fleury, and the question is simple: can Seattle keep the machine humming?
That was the heart of the latest episode of Hawks Eye, where I was joined by Bobby Peters of Alert the Post to dig into what Kubiak built, why it worked, and what might change with Fleury taking over as offensive coordinator.
A big part of the conversation centered on Sam Darnold, who benefited from the kind of structure that makes a quarterback’s life easier. Kubiak’s system gave Darnold cleaner reads and built-in answers, letting him play on rhythm instead of constantly having to improvise outside the design of the play. Under-center looks, movement, and layered route concepts all helped Darnold settle in and throw with confidence and timing.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba got the same kind of treatment. He wasn’t just a target; he was a centerpiece.
Kubiak’s offense used alignment, motion, spacing, and route design to create favorable matchups and put JSN in better positions to win. The Seahawks found ways to get him clean releases, get him into space, and feature him on important downs.
That showed up clearly on Sam Darnold’s touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba against the Texans.
“Kubak did an excellent job in the red zone in general,” Peters said. “But with these double post designs and isolating JSN as that outside post runner with his route running ability, it is second to none.
So, this is once again another example where we’re free releasing the back and using the tight end as that kind of that check release sixth protector. Um that inside through route there-I believe that’s the F receiver occupying the near safety and JSN from that tight split.
“He’s going to try to sell that outside stem on that corner, get, you know, get him to widen and then cross his face. And Sam Darnold, with five [steps] and a hitch, quick timing from under center is able to let that ball rip.”
The run game mattered too, even when it wasn’t perfect. It gave the offense a real base to lean on, and the threat of it forced defenses to react. Seattle used under-center snaps, outside-zone action, motion, and formation stress to pull second-level defenders out of position and open things up in the passing game.
That foundation is now Fleury’s responsibility to preserve.
Seattle does not need him to rip everything up and start over. The bigger task is keeping the structure that worked while adding enough fresh ideas to keep defenses from getting comfortable. That’s the challenge in year two: opponents have tape, and the good offenses don’t just repeat themselves.
Peters pointed to the amount of material Fleury can draw from in the Kyle Shanahan system and how that kind of offensive tree gives a coordinator plenty of places to pull from.
“There’s so much volume in the Kyle Shanahan system, especially at this point, right?” Peters said.
“He’s been calling he’s been calling his own offense for awhile, specially in San Francisco with all those experienced players like Kittle, Juszczyk, CMC. I mean, you’re creating brand new game plans every week with, you know, new tags and stuff.
So like he could pull from so many different places just within that tree of different concepts to feature and you know obviously he’s going to try to fit it to his personnel. I guess we’ll wait and see [about Brian Fleury].”
Peters also said there could be more of an emphasis on the kind of under-center dropbacks both Brock Purdy and Darnold have liked, and maybe even more wide zone and outside zone work, though that part remains to be seen.
“I know Purdy likes that under center drop back and obviously Darnold, you know, we just got done showing an example of him liking it. So even maybe more of an emphasis on that, too.
I could see that being an uptick. Maybe they do go down more of the wide zone outside zone route, too.
That’s remain to be seen.
”It’s all [about] trying to stay ahead of defensive trends, too. Defenses have got a year of Darnold with Seattle’s personnel on tape.
How are defenses going to respond now? Flurry’s going to have to respond to that.”
That’s where this gets interesting for Seattle. The identity is there. The question is whether Fleury can keep it sharp, keep it moving, and keep the Seahawks a step ahead.
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