It’s pretty ambitious to hope that your offensive coordinator can emulate Kyle Shanahan. Although the 49ers head coach ultimately failed to get his team over the final hurdle, no one can deny that he was successful on offense even without a superstar quarterback.
This is the playmaker who led Matt Ryan to an MVP season in 2016 and should have had a Super Bowl ring. Since then, he’s had success in San Francisco with Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy, reaching another Super Bowl with each of them, again coming agonizingly close both times.
There aren’t many coaches who could reach three Super Bowls and two NFC Championship Games with Ryan, Garoppolo and Purdy.
He also helped Kirk Cousins succeed in Washington, launching a career that surprisingly benefited the former fourth-round pick financially.
The only real blemish on him was when the Niners went all out and paid a fortune for the physically gifted but hopelessly inexperienced Trey Lance.
A year from now, we may see Purdy getting paid a fortune to be the so-called “franchise quarterback” in Santa Clara. Frankly, the 49ers would probably be better off if Shanahan let them find the next Purdy. His system and coaching are the real MVP.
Not even Sean McVay can boast a track record as a “quarterback whisperer” like Shanahan. After all, he dealt with Jared Goff, a former first-round pick, before trading a fortune for Matt Stafford, another former first-round pick, to get to his two Super Bowls (winning one of them). He has yet to show he can turn water into wine with an unknown, young quarterback.
Whatever happens with Ryan Grubb in Seattle, the biggest advantage of his offense might be that it’s user-friendly. Hopefully it can be effectively brilliant, like Shanahan’s. That’s the hard part. But it would be a huge boon to the Seahawks if they could build a functional, productive offense that doesn’t require absolute brilliance at the quarterback position.
That’s easy to say, of course. But maybe there is reason for optimism?
I finally watched the Titans game today after arriving back in the UK. I was impressed with Sam Howell’s first half. Again, you have to remember this is just a preseason game against mostly reserve players. He still made some good shots, drove the offense without a number of top weapons on the field, and he looks increasingly confident and relaxed after what was reportedly a difficult start to training camp.
Grubb and Kalen DeBoer had success in college with different types of quarterbacks. Jake Haener and Michael Penix Jr. couldn’t be more different in terms of arm strength, yet both put up tremendous numbers.
Can the same thing happen to professionals, even if adjustments are necessary?
This could be the future deciding factor when it comes to legitimate competition. The NFL is in a bit of a weird spot right now. Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen currently rank 11th and 13th, respectively, in terms of average annual salary cap hit. Kirk Cousins’ average is the same as Mahomes’. The following players have a higher average:
Deshaun Watson
Kyle Murray (born 1963 in New York City) is an American soccer star. He is the first American soccer player to ever retire…
Jalen injured
Jared Goff
Tua Tagovailoa
Trevor Lawrence
Jordan Love
One can easily argue that the key for the Seahawks is not to add another name to that list. They don’t need to end up paying someone over $50 million a year who isn’t great. It could be considered “market value” if a player is playing at a comparable level to Goff or Tagovailoa to pay him that kind of salary. I would argue that the goal should be to try to at least match the same level of performance, but at a lower cost.
I think teams are increasingly afraid of the alternative. They believe that having base production that makes you somewhat competitive is worth paying a fortune for. This is just my personal opinion, but I believe if I were an owner, I would rather give my GM more power by taking the pressure off him. Aim for brilliance – don’t waste my money on a player who gets 10 wins and then quits in the first two weeks of the playoffs. Take risks, be willing to move on and pursue greatness rather than settling for less at a high price.
And in the meantime, create an offense that allows you to succeed without needing the best of the best on defense.
Purdy will cost the 49ers $1 million this year. He will likely allow San Francisco to outscore most (if not all) NFC opponents. Yes, he will benefit from a full roster – but that’s partly because they can afford to pay everyone else with the quarterback. not earns $50 million a year.
Next year, if I were the 49ers, I wouldn’t put Purdy’s name on the $50 million list. If Shanahan insisted that making him a $50 million man would be the best thing to do, I don’t think anyone would object. I’m not sure he will think that, though.
That’s ultimately what I hope Grubb does in Seattle. I hope his system is good enough that the Seahawks can be really relaxed about having to pay a quarterback. If they somehow achieve something big and land the next superstar among young quarterbacks, that’s obviously a different story. Until that happens, though, it would be great to have a system like San Francisco’s where players can be housed at a reasonable price – and be successful.
This would give a significant advantage over other teams that spend their money on non-top-notch quarterbacks.
It will be some time before we can determine if Grubb has that ability, like he and DeBoer did in college. They turned Haener into a 9,120, 68-touchdown passer in Fresno. They had Penix Jr. on the verge of the Heisman and National Championship after he left Indiana, basically known as an injury-plagued, entertaining but inconsistent latecomer.
Considering how difficult it is to find a brilliant quarterback in college, even when your first pick is on a team that is absolutely talented (see Jacksonville), creating a system that provides a valuable sense of achievement could make all the difference in the new era of Seahawks football.
This could also allow them to put some money into the offensive line in the future if they save at quarterback.
I’m not saying it will be easy. I realize that this is a discussion about an ideal scenario. That’s what I hope for.
Under Pete Carroll, the individual quality of the quarterback was always key – especially in the post-Marsawn Lynch years. Can the Seahawks now develop a great system offense? Can they be tactically brilliant? Can they, like the 49ers, find suitable quarterbacks to take advantage of opportunities, save money and gain an advantage over teams that arguably overpaid for non-elite quarterbacks?
This could be the key to a great team, at least until they can figure out the long-term future of the quarterback position – which, as we’ve seen in the past, can take years.
