'Disillusioned and Incompatible': Inside Seahawks Decision to Fire Ryan Grubb

The Seahawks believed Ryan Grubb would be the perfect fit to guide their offense on Mike Macdonald's first staff. But once the games started, stubbornness cost him his job.

Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb talks with wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) during pregame warmups against the San Francisco 49ers at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

RENTON, Wash. - Taking their courtship public at Dino's Pub for all of the world to see, Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider were all smiles as they worked to finalize a home run hire for a new coaching staff in Ryan Grubb.

A little over a week after Macdonald signed the dotted line to replace legendary coach Pete Carroll, with much of the coaching market drying up, the Seahawks had zeroed in on Grubb, who had recently signed on as Alabama's new offensive coordinator in a package deal with coach Kalen DeBoer. The rising assistant came onto Schneider's radar as the innovative architect behind Washington's explosive offense, believing he could maximize the team's wealth of skill talent and get the most out of veteran quarterback Geno Smith.

In two seasons at Montlake, Grubb's Huskies averaged north of 36 points per game with current Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. guiding them to the College Football Playoff National Championship game last January.

While Grubb had cut his teeth orchestrating a pass-centric, shotgun-heavy system at Washington, Macdonald and Schneider felt he would be able to adapt to the pro game given his prior offensive line and run game coordinator background at stops at Eastern Michigan and Fresno State, justifying the usage of a full court press to bring him on board as a vital piece for a brand new coaching staff.

Unfortunately for all parties involved, that vision shared while enjoying drinks at Dino's didn't manifest itself onto the field, and less than a year after that meeting that went viral on social media, the Seahawks fired Grubb on Monday, ending his tenure after just one season.

How did this once ideal partnership unravel so quickly in the Pacific Northwest? And what does it mean for Seattle as it prepares to hire a new offensive coordinator for the second straight offseason?

Encouraging Early Returns

Back in familiar, yet different, surroundings jumping from the college level to NFL, Grubb lived up to his reputation as an offensive trailblazer out of the gate with the start of OTAs, hitting the ground running installing his system and drawing positive reviews from players and fellow coaches alike.

During the early stages of the spring, quarterback Geno Smith and receiver DK Metcalf raved about the unique creativity of Grubb's scheme, while Macdonald gushed about the chess matches that he and the new offensive coordinator engaged in on the practice field, bringing out the best of one another. Once training camp opened, the offense seemed to be ahead of schedule on install, creating a great sense of optimism that the unit would get off to a high flying start.

Those expectations only skyrocketed further into the clouds when Smith led a quick scoring drive on the opening possession of Seattle's final preseason game, completing five straight passes for 62 yards and connecting with Metcalf on a 21-yard touchdown, sending the sellout crowd at Lumen Field into a frenzy. The quarterback exited stage left, turning in his pads for street clothes and a cap, and the unit looked to be in midseason form before playing a game that actually counted.

"At that point, [Grubb] he could do no wrong," a team source said. "The players were fully bought in, Macdonald was fully bought in. There didn't seem to be a ceiling for how good this offense could be."

Once the calendar flipped to September, the Seahawks started the season with three straight victories, scoring at least 23 points on offense in each contest, giving just a taste of their potent potential. Even in their first defeat to the Lions in Week 4, Smith threw for 395 yards and Ken Walker III rushed for 80 yards on only 12 carries as the offense put up 29 points in a shootout loss at Ford Field.

Through four weeks, Seattle ranked ninth in the NFL averaging 25.5 points per game and had done so while playing far from perfect football with an abundance of self-inflicted mistakes, coming close to meeting lofty standards while still having immense room for improvement. But starting the following week, the honeymoon period came to a crashing end and issues began to arise that lingered for most of the rest of the season.

A Giant Problem Emerges

Though the Seahawks suffered their first loss of the season in the Motor City, the vibes in the locker room at the VMAC couldn't have been much better rolling into Week 5. At 3-1, Macdonald's squad sat in sole possession of first place in the NFC West, and with the lowly Giants coming to town, they would have a great opportunity for a quick rebound and either maintain their lead or add a game of separation from the rest of the pack.

Starting off 1-3, New York ranked in the middle of the pack in most defensive categories, including sitting 15th in rushing yards allowed per game (118.8). Back in Week 2, Washington ran roughshod on Shane Bowen's unit, racking up 215 yards on the ground, suggesting Seattle would be able to find success with the duo of Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet.

But Grubb didn't seem to get the memo, coming out with a pass-heavy game plan against a defense featuring talented edge rushers in Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux as well as All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. While Smith completed nine out of 14 passes for 97 yards, the Giants harassed him with frequent pressure and play calling did him no favors as they ran 15 pass plays on 17 offensive snaps.

"He thought he was facing Stanford or something," a team source remarked, harkening back to his time dominating Pac-12 competition. "His confidence in his quarterback wasn't misguided, but he took one of our best players out of the game with his own stubbornness."

Knotted up at 10 apiece at halftime, Macdonald implored Grubb to get Walker more involved in the second half after Seattle mustered only three points in the first two quarters on offense. But two plays after Smith connected with Tyler Lockett for a 33-yard completion to open the second half, Metcalf fumbled on a quick reception, setting the Giants up for a Daniel Jones touchdown pass.

From there, even with the Seahawks only trailing by seven, Grubb became trigger happy, calling five passes on six plays on the next drive as they were forced to settle for a Jason Myers field goal. On the ensuing possession, facing 4th and 1 in Giants territory, he dialed up a play action pass rather than trying to run for the yard to gain, but Burns didn't buy the fake and devoured Smith for an eight-yard sack to turn the ball over on downs.

By the time New York iced the game with a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown in the closing moments, Smith had dropped back to throw 47 times while Walker had a total of five carries for 19 yards and Seattle had ran the ball a total of seven times with running backs. Completely abandoning the run game in a close contest, Grubb called pass plays on a stunning 87 percent of the team's snaps, leading to Smith being sacked seven times.

Following the game, Macdonald met with Grubb one-on-one, speaking with him on the one-dimensional approach that he felt cost the Seahawks a winnable game with the offense contributing only 13 points. The coordinator took the blame for the lack of balance four days later, particularly lamenting his inability to get Walker more involved.

"That's 100 percent on me," Grubb said at the time. "And my job is to make sure I get all our guys in the best position possible to win the game, and I didn't do that."

As a first-time NFL coordinator, Macdonald hoped that misstep would serve as a valuable lesson for Grubb, showing him that he had to adapt his philosophy to be successful scheming against the best defenders in the world. However, frustrations would only continue to grow, putting the two coaches on an inevitable collision course as they tried to navigate their differences.

NFC North Breaking Point

Though the offense still wasn't humming on all cylinders, a four-game winning streak starting in Santa Clara on November 17 took some of the pressure off of Grubb temporarily, in part due to Seattle suddenly finding a functional running game.

While the Cardinals held the Seahawks to just 64 rushing yards in Week 12, Grubb masterfully dialed up an array of gap schemes such as power, duo, and counter trey with great success over the next two weeks. With the offensive line showing steady improvement following the return of a healthy Abraham Lucas and decision to plug rookie Sataoa Laumea into the lineup at right guard, Zach Charbonnet rushed for a career-high 134 yards in Week 14, taking full advantage of his chance to fill in for an injured Walker.

Meanwhile, with a more balanced offense benefiting the quarterback and taking some of the burden off his shoulders, Smith didn't throw an interception against the Jets or Cardinals in successive wins, and the Seahawks finally looked to be on the cusp of playing to their full potential.

But those improvements proved to be little more than a mirage masked by playing inferior opponents. Starting with a prime time home game against the Packers, Grubb reverted back to his prior ways, inexplicably calling 12 consecutive pass plays after backup Sam Howell checked in for his first game action of the year in place of an injured Smith early in the third quarter.

Not surprisingly, asking Howell to put the offense on his arm behind a struggling offensive line yielded mostly disastrous results. While his third drive ended with Charbonnet ripping off a 24-yard touchdown run to bring Seattle within 10 points early in the fourth quarter, he completed just four out of nine passes for 19 yards and took two sacks on 12 drop backs with his play caller hanging the young quarterback out to dry.

After the Seahawks forced a three-and-out with 10 minutes left in the game, Grubb promptly called three straight pass plays, leading to a quick punt. On the next series, Howell threw a horrible interception telegraphed to linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, all but ending the game.

Much to Macdonald's dismay, Grubb didn't give Charbonnet another carry after his long touchdown run even though Seattle had 10 minutes left to try to get two scores. Though both coaches had a quality working relationship, their differences in how they wanted to approach things on offense continued to create challenges during games.

With the "marriage already on the rocks" according to a source, Grubb put the dagger in his chances of returning as offensive coordinator the ensuing week against the Vikings, this time failing to meet Macdonald's standards from a time management and game flow perspective.

After Sam Darnold escaped the pocket and found star receiver Justin Jefferson for a 39-yard touchdown to put Minnesota back in front 27-24 with under four minutes to play, Smith hooked up with tight end Noah Fant and running back Kenny McIntosh for 18 and 15-yard completions on successive plays, driving Seattle down to the opposing 37-yard line with 3:09 left on the clock.

Already in field goal range for Myers, Macdonald wanted to start bleeding the clock to the Seahawks advantage, hoping to eventually force the Vikings into using their timeouts as they positioned themselves for a tying field goal or a game-winning touchdown. But Grubb called another pass play out of shotgun, allowing linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel to crash the pocket and sack Smith for a six-yard loss.

An incompletion and one-yard pass later, Myers came up well short of the uprights on a 60-yard prayer in overcast, damp conditions, turning the ball back over to Minnesota. After the game, Macdonald called out Smith for taking the first down sack, but behind closed doors, he continued to bemoan the lack of balance and missing out on an opportunity for a big win, screaming at himself moments after exiting the podium in his post-game press conference.

The writing already on the wall with him and Macdonald with irreparable philosophical differences, Grubb further cemented his future status on the unemployment line when the Seahawks managed just six points against the hapless Bears on Thursday Night Football in Week 16. Once the team was eliminated from the playoffs, as a source explained, it didn't matter what happened in the season finale. He would be on the way out.

"Disillusioned and incompatible. There wasn't any other decision that could be made by Mike."

Aftermath

Following Sunday's 30-25 win over the Rams, Smith spoke highly of Grubb's first season at the controls for the Seahawks, expressing excitement about getting to work with him again in 2025. Clearly, the veteran quarterback would have been in favor of him returning after posting career-bests in passing yards and completion percentage.

But with Schneider's blessing, Macdonald didn't waste time making a change that he felt needed to be made to help improve his football team, viewing the offense's season-long inconsistencies and lack of balance as a major reason why Seattle didn't make it into the postseason. By early Monday morning, less than 24 hours after winning in Los Angeles, he confirmed on Seattle Sports 710 that Grubb had been fired and the team would begin searching for a new offensive coordinator.

"It’s really as simple as just I felt like the direction our offense was going was different than the vision that I had for our team, and felt like it was just a necessary decision at this point,” Macdonald said of the decision to part ways with Grubb, later adding, "Ryan's a heck of a football coach."

11 months after having drinks with Grubb just a mile away from the team facility, it's worth wondering why Macdonald and Schneider were sold on him as a candidate if his pass-centric scheme failed to match with what Macdonald desired in the first place. It was predictable that the coordinator would wind up being a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.

But Schneider and even Carroll had an eye on Grubb while he engineered Washington's dangerous offense the past two years, intrigued by his potential to scheme against modern NFL defenses. With Macdonald hired late in the coaching cycle, he stood out as the best option and there was a clear mutual interest for all parties, as they sold each other on their ability to marry their concepts and ideologies.

In the end, while it wasn't anything personal and both Macdonald and Grubb don't hold anything against the other coach, the partnership simply didn't work, leaving the Seahawks in an all-too familiar position searching for an offensive coordinator for the third time in five years and no clear favorites to replace Grubb in the sky box. The change also creates further questions about where Smith fits into future plans along with other offensive standouts such as Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Fant.

Now officially in offseason mode, Macdonald and Schneider will be back to the drawing board pursuing an ideal play caller that meshes with the head coach's philosophy for the second time in as many seasons. Considering Grubb's failure, don't expect to see another passing game maestro without previous NFL play calling experience at the top of the wish list, and don't expect to see his replacement presented at Dino's either.

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