Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron likes what he sees from new, up-tempo offense
New Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has been working with Russell Wilson, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and the rest of the Seahawks’ offense the past week in training camp, implementing a new offense in Seattle. How’s it going? Swimmingly, according to the new play caller. Waldron said Wilson has eagerly picked things up.
“Playing with Russell has been nothing but awesome,” Waldron said. “This guy is non-stop ball, he wants it all day every day starting from the time you walk into the building until the time you leave. He’s ready to keep taking in more and more information, wants to learn everything he can about every part of the offense.”
Waldron, who was previously the passing game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, spoke to the media for the first time since the spring at training camp on Wednesday. He was hired as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator after former OC Brian Schottenheimer was fired after the offense stumbled down the stretch last season.
Waldron was hired to remake the Seattle attack into a quicker-passing, up-tempo offense which features more pre-snap shifting, motion and crossing routes, designed to get the ball out of Russell Wilson’s hand quicker. The tempo has been a constant coaching point early on in training camp.
“I think it’s just part of everything we do,” Waldron said. “Tempo means a lot of different things, but to me it’s the tempo in which we’re practicing, how fast we’re transitioning in and out of drills, how quickly we’re getting in and out of our routes, how quickly we’re getting in out of the huddle, how fast we can play, how much pressure can we put on ourselves in practice to just be in that up-tempo mindset all the time?”
Pete Carroll, who some feel has prevented the Seahawks from running a modern offense, has largely stayed out of Waldron’s way, letting the new OC install the offense. The new system drew rave reviews from Seattle players in June.
“I think he’s very brilliant. The things that he brings to our team is going to really help us out, a lot,” Lockett said at the time. “He’s a coordinator that wants to learn. It’s really cool when you have that. I’ve had that with the others (Darrell Bevell before Schottenheimer). ...
“He’s been embraced well. I think we’ve given him the freedom to be who he’s always been.”
Wilson called Waldron’s new offense ‘super complex’ in June.
“We are going to be able to move people around,” Wilson said. “We are going to do everything that we want to.”
Wilson and the Seahawks set team records for points scored, pass completions and touchdown throws in 2020. Wilson’s 4,212 yards last season was 7 short of his team record for yards passing. Seattle went 12-4 and won the NFC West. They advanced to the playoffs for the eight time in nine years last season. But a first-round playoff loss to the Rams was the sour cherry on top of a disappointing second half of the season, in which Seattle’s offense became stagnant and predictable.
Waldron spoke Wednesday about the importance of keeping the offense fresh over the course of an entire season.
“I think there’s always a constant evolution of an offense that goes on throughout a season,” Waldron said. “It’s based around the players. In the NFL, it’s a players game. So depending on what players are playing well at different points — hey, what can they do, different ways you can utilize guys’ different strengths, different skillsets.”
Waldron said it’s a ‘copycat league,’ and he plans to keep an eye on what other teams are doing to keep defenses on their toes.
“I think it’s important to keep a pulse around the league, around different aspects of college football,” Waldron said. It also has to fit within the system that you’re running, and you have to have the people that have the ability to execute those different things. Just having a pulse of, ‘Has something run its course?’”
Getting the ball out of Wilson’s hand quicker means more crossing, short and intermediate routes. But that doesn’t mean Wilson won’t take shots down the field when the opportunity presents itself.
“I think to me, it’s just part of having a balanced offense, which doesn’t mean we’re conservative and just dink and dunk all the time, but when are those right opportunities to take completions, having that completion-make play mindset and moving forward to that next play,” Waldron said. “Just having that good balance as part of our system grows. From week to week, there are different things that present themselves from a defense. So whatever that is that we can take advantage of from a defense, we’d like to do that.”
Waldron, who has a reputation for an even-keel demeanor, said it’ll be a team effort to cut down on drive-killing sacks this season. Seattle’s offensive line has taken its fair share of criticism in recent years, but some of the team’s sacks have come from Wilson holding onto the ball too long. It’s a delicate balancing act to cut down on Wilson’s tendency to hold onto the ball too long at times, but not squash the jaw-dropping improvisation Wilson has won Seattle games with over the course of his career.
“To me, that takes everybody,” Waldron said. “It takes the play caller, the scheme we’re running, the players. The sacks are never just on one specific thing. There’s a lot of different things that go into it. You look at different sacks throughout the league, there’s a lot of different things that go into it. The biggest thing we’re trying to do here is limit the time we’re on the ground, but also not limit the explosiveness that can be created with some of these off-schedule plays.”
EXTRA POINTS
- Bobby Wagner returned to training camp after missing the past two practices attending to a personal matter.
- Nothing new on safety Jamal Adams or left tackle Duane Brown, who both watched practice from the sidelines as they await new deals. The TNT’s Gregg Bell reported on Tuesday there are signs of progress in recent days toward the Seahawks completing Adams’ new contract to make him the NFL’s highest-paid safety. The Adams signing appears to be a matter of days, not weeks.
- It was a good day for the defense, Carroll remarked. The offense had four fumbles and two interceptions. Rookie safety Aashari Croswell, an undrafted free agent out of Arizona State, had two interceptions on defense.
- Waldron hasn’t decided whether he’ll call plays from the sideline or the booth this season. The OC said they’ll evaluate it going forward. “We’re going field to start,” he said. “Thinking about going in the booth. Really, in my mind, is what’s best for our team. So we’re going to look at a couple different things in terms of what’s coming up here and make a good final decision as the season approaches.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 5:57 PM.
