Seahawks Aiming for More Balanced Offense in 2021

The Seattle Seahawks are in for an offensive makeover in 2021. New offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has been installing a new complex, uptempo offense in Seattle and has nothing but great reviews so far. 

One of Waldron’s key goals is to have a more balanced offense. However, the Seahawks offense was near the middle of the league in terms of percentage of run plays vs percentage of pass plays. Seattle threw the ball 59.59% of the time in 2020, good for 14th in the league.

"Every time I mention the running game everybody goes crazy. We're going to be a balanced football team again and we're going to do the things we need to do to play really good ball, and like always,” head coach Pete Carroll said. “That means being able to keep the ball away from the other guys and hang on to it and hold it well and not let them have it so that we can go score.”

In terms of balance, Seattle is looking to get away from a lot of the deep routes and include shorter passing concepts to allow for run-after-catch situations.

Last season, Tyler Lockett averaged 3.3 yards after catch per reception and D.K. Metcalf averaged 4.4 yards after catch per reception. Having more of those situations would allow for the speed of Metcalf and Lockett to be on display. 

If the Seahawks’ offensive change works in their advantage, they could see a rise in their odds to win the NFC West. Right now, WynnBET has Seattle finishing third in the division with +300 odds. They are behind the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, who have +185 odds to win. 

Waldron is getting the support he needs to implement a new philosophy which bodes well going into training camp. With full buy-in, Seattle could surprise the league with one of the more explosive offenses.