How serious does Mike Macdonald appear to be about getting his Seahawks to run the ball more?
He’s created a new assistant coach for it.
The Seahawks are hiring former Tennessee Titans running backs coach Justin Outten as Seattle’s new run game specialist. NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero was the first to report that Thursday.
Outten, 41, will work for new run-based offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and new, veteran offensive line coach John Benton.
Macdonald had 22 assistant coaches in his rookie season as the Seahawks head coach in 2024, 21 of them new to the team.
None of them had a title of “run game specialist” or “run game coordinator.”
The Seahawks’ last run-game coordinator was when Pete Carroll hired Andy Dickerson for that job under offensive coordinator Shane Waldron in 2021.
Thursday’s is yet another move to show where Macdonald’s and Kubiak’s focus and emphasis already are for Seattle’s 2025 season, months after the team finished 28th in the 32-team NFL in rushing attempts: Kubiak’s outside-zone running game for returning lead rusher Kenneth Walker.
“We’re going to have an identity,” Kubiak said this week, upon his arrival from one season as offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints. “We want to be smart. We want to be tough. We want to be physical.
“Those are three critical attributes, but it’s important that we can run the football.”
That echoes what Macdonald said after the Seahawks finished this past season 10-7 —but out of the NFC West division title and playoffs for the second consecutive season and third time in four years.
Outten and Kubiak were on the same offensive staff with the Denver Broncos in 2022. Outten was Denver’s offensive coordinator that season, though head coach Nathaniel Hackett called the team’s plays. Russell Wilson went 4-11 in his first year as the Broncos’ quarterback that season. It ended with Kubiak taking over the play-calling.
Outten was the tight ends coach for the Titans in 2024. He was their running backs coach and run game coordinator in 2023. Before his one season as offensive coordinator in Denver, he was tight ends coach for Green Bay from 2019-21.
A former center at Syracuse University, Outten began his coaching career for his alma mater as a graduate assistant in 2007. After seven years coaching high school football in Texas (2008-15), the Doylestown, Pennsylvania, native began his NFL coaching career in 2016 as an intern for the Atlanta Falcons. His first three NFL coaching seasons were for Atlanta.
Now he is charged with helping Macdonald, Kubiak and Benton formulate and coach a new offensive plan.
To run the ball more, and effectively.
“We’re going to start with that being an outside zone,” Kubiak said, “but obviously we’re going to incorporate gap schemes, inside zones, pin and pull. We’ve got to do what our players do best.
“So, we have a philosophy that we believe in, a style that we believe in. But you’ve got to be able to win more than one way, like we said. So, we’ll start with the fundamentals running off the ball, and then we’ll get to know our guys. We better do what they do best, or else we’re not going to like the results.”
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