-
Brady HendersonESPN
SEATTLE – At his introductory press conference Tuesday, new Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron sounded a lot like the head coach who had just hired him.
He said his attacking approach begins with a belief that “it’s all about the ball,” a common phrase by Pete Carroll that emphasizes the importance of winning the turnover battle. He made several mentions of his desire for offensive balance and one about playing complementary football, two more Carroll favorites.
It’s no wonder the Seahawks tabled Waldron to replace Brian Schottenheimer, whose clash with Carroll prompted the team to announce last month that he would not be returning after three seasons due to “philosophical differences.”
“In my opinion, that was really what was so natural about the interview process was there was so much philosophical alignment between him and I,” said Waldron. “I had said this to him: It wasn’t like an interview where you try to sell yourself to win the job in a sales pitch. It was a conversation and it was a football discussion with so many things. In alignment it just felt like a natural progression as we got to know each other and talk through things. So so many of those things were just naturally in alignment, and that’s where I think I felt really good about the process. ”
As much as Carroll and Waldron were on the same page speaking by phone, FaceTime, and Zoom over the course of several days, Carroll didn’t make his decision alone. Quarterback Russell Wilson made it clear he wanted to be involved in the hiring process – and he was. A source told ESPN that Waldron was one of the candidates Wilson loved the most during the two-week search and that the quarterback was excited about the hiring.
Jake Heaps, Wilson’s personal quarterback coach and a co-host on 710 ESPN Seattle, called Waldron the “perfect mesh” of what Carroll and Wilson want in their new OC.
“I had the great opportunity to get to know him as a person,” Waldron said of his conversations with Wilson, both during the interview process and afterwards. “[We] talked a lot about our families and really got to know each other better as humans, because I think the football part of it, which will become an important part of it when the time is right, but our conversations have really focused on who we are as people because You’re in a room with some guys for hours every day when that season is rolling. … It seems like he has this relentless desire to get better, to be the best he can be, so I think when we started talking about those things, it was really nice conversations there. “
Waldron’s coaching career included college stints at Notre Dame and UMass, a year in the UFL and NFL jobs with the New England Patriots and the Washington Football Team before playing four years with the Los Angeles Rams. He said he took things out of every stop to build an offensive philosophy around three things: protecting the ball, the fundamentals and balance.
“I think the great part of Russell Wilson in this system is that he has the ability to do a lot of different things, and just because I say it’s a balanced attack doesn’t mean it’s a conservative attack,” he said. “I never want to confuse that.”
What wasn’t clear from Waldron’s initial comments on reports in the Seattle area was how much of the Seahawks’ offense will be what he is bringing in versus what they were already doing.
“I have some core beliefs that I hold on to, but we’re going to build this together,” he said. “I think the one thing with Russell and with the rest of the players on this team, they have a great base and they’ve won a lot of football games together, so there will be things that will be carried over, because there are great things in the past. are done. “
Waldron called Sean McVay a friend and mentor while saying the Rams head coach helped him get where he got. Waldron spent the past three seasons as the Los Angeles match coordinator and said he wore a variety of hats in that role, including being responsible for certain situational aspects of games, helping plan games, and being on the headsets with McVay. Waldron also held the title of QB coach in 2019.
He didn’t do one thing: call plays. McVay handled those duties with the Rams. Waldron didn’t do that in college or the NFL, at least not in a real game.
“It’s a great challenge, and it’s a challenge I’ve prepared my whole life,” he said. “So I think it’s one of those things I’m ready for and I’m excited to take that opportunity. I’ve learned a lot from Sean along the way. With that playcall experience, he gave me the chance to do it. in different settings, be it preseason or scrimmages or drills, so I’ve kind of had that way knowing that clearly this isn’t the real deal and there’s going to be an opportunity here.
“I’m a guy who likes to prepare. I want to be organized, I want to have that really consistent approach, and in my mind that preparation started a long time ago and I can’t wait for this opportunity to go ahead and do it.”
Waldron brings an assistant from Los Angeles, Andy Dickerson, who becomes Seattle’s run-game coordinator. That position was vacant with Brennan Carroll who left the Seattle staff to become the attack coordinator at the University of Arizona. Waldron said that when Carroll asked him to bring someone who could help with the transition, his first thought was Dickerson, who spent nine seasons as the Rams’ assistant attack coach. He and Waldron were college teammates at Tufts University.