Cooper Kupp signing a three-year, $45 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks was the latest wing added to the offense’s reconstructive surgery. Prognosticators did not anticipate a complete overhaul of the Seahawks offense this offseason. Rather than tinkering around the edges, the Seahawks will begin 2025 with a distinctly new identity.
The addition of Kupp is a welcome triumph considering the Seahawks faced the possibility of ending the first week of free agency with Marquez Valdes-Scantling as their No. 2 wideout. Yet, the Kupp acquisition does leave behind burning questions that must be answered this fall. The beauty of the offseason is that it can provide a study guide, but only Sam Darnold and company have to prove they can deliver on test days this season.
Can Cooper Kupp help Sam Darnold string together consecutive seasons of first-rate play?
The most significant swing taken by the Seahawks was undoubtedly Darnold making the transition from Minnesota to Seattle. Cooper Kupp is the amuse-bouche. He supplements Jaxon Smith-Njigba who emerged as the Seahawks top receiver last season. As Geno Smith’s No. 1 target, he recorded 100 catches for over 1,000 yards and six touchdowns in his second season as a pro.
In theory, they have a good thing going. However, inconsistency has been a long-running trademark of Darnold’s career. The darkest timeline scenario is one in which he regresses to the mean and looks more like the player who more closely resembles the bust who was ditched by the Jets. The next phase of the Darnold revival involves repetition. Darnold must do it again or risk being relegated to the bowels of history as a one-year wonder.
He arrived in Seattle without Justin Jefferson, TJ Hockenson, and Jordan Addison, but Kupp provides Darnold with the playmakers a quality quarterback requires to continue flourishing. The only downside is that Kupp has struggled to remain on the field for more than 12 games since winning Offensive Player of the Year in 2021.
How will the Seahawks protect Sam Darnold?
While they improve Darnold’s weapons, his protection leaves a lot to be desired. Darnold’s history of seeing ghosts when the blitz begins to translate into pressure is baked in. The Seahawks’ offensive line has been one of the patchwork units in the league and Geno Smith was the victim of Ryan Grubb’s play-calling tendencies.
Pass-heavy play-calling strained the offensive line to its limits. Last season, the Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons were the only teams in 11 personnel more often, and Seattle ranked 29th in designed rush rate. Right tackle Stone Forsythe is the only offensive lineman the Seahawks drafted before 2022 still on the roster. Geno Smith took snaps from the shotgun at the league’s fourth-highest rate through Week 9 of the 2021 season.
Last season, the Seahawks ranked 21st in pass blocking win rate according to ESPN whereas the Vikings finished the year second in that same metric. The Seahawks likely won’t have an offensive line as adept as Minnesota’s was in 2024, but they hope to alleviate the play-calling aspect through the hiring of coordinator Klint Kubiak, who won’t force the passing game to bear the entire load of the offense. In his previous stints, Kubiak’s offenses have favored a more balanced split between the rush, pass, and snaps taken from under center.
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