The maternity ward may not be the last surprising place that Brady Russell finds himself in during a Seahawks game this season.
A special teamer whose only career “touch” is a fumble recovery, Russell could be offensive coordinator Brian Fleury’s one chance this season to mold a player into Seattle’s version of Kyle Juszczyk. Given that no offense was even close to as dependent on using two running backs in tandem as Fleury’s 49ers were last year, the odds that Russell will become the most unexpected first down weapon in the NFC West went up tremendously when Ouzts went down.
In one player, the NFL could get the most famous “Brady” and the Seahawks could get their most famous “Russell” in the history of both organizations*.
*no disrespect intended to Russell Okung or Kyle Brady
Is Wednesday’s game against the Patriots going to be the birth a new Brady Russell?
Take the Seahawks-Patriots Pack-12 Survey if you didn’t already!
Seahawks vs 49ers personnel tendencies
A recent podcast about the Seahawks from The Athletic Football Show highlights that although Mike Macdonald is the mastermind of Seattle’s success, it’s the changeover from Klint Kubiak to Fleury that will probably determine how far Seattle goes this year as compared to last.
I think most people are afraid to criticize the hire because of his association to Kyle Shanahan (imagine how much vitriol there would be if Fleury had the same lack of experience but with the Browns instead of the 49ers) but also wary of supporting the move because he was just an analyst only a few years ago.
The tenor isn’t excitement or panic, it’s just curiosity. “What’s this guy going to do?”
If replicating Shanahan was easy, everybody would do it, to some degree or another. The problem is that calling offensive plays is chess, or poker, it’s not like playing a video game. There’s no way to guarantee success by gaining experience or using a cheat code. Fleury’s either going to have the brain for it or he isn’t, and nobody’s going to know how they feel about the hire until months from now — and even those initial first-season reactions could prove to be totally off-base three or four years afterwards.
John DeFlippo was once the hottest coaching name in the NFL after the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017. Now he’s an offensive analyst at the University of Kansas.
Fleury’s arrow isn’t point up or down, it’s just looking straight ahead of his first career game as an offensive coordinator on Wednesday. Where he goes from there is anyone’s guess, but most are looking for clues through San Francisco’s 2025 play calling tendencies, when Fleury was Shanahan’s run game coordinator.
That’s where Brady Russell comes in.
(Before I forget to do it, I’ll post a link to a new Jalen Milroe film breakdown video by J.T. O’Sullivan in today’s comments)
Where the Seahawks and 49ers differed
As I wrote on Friday, I’m very optimistic about Seattle’s chances to be a legitimate top-10 offense and not because they’re buoyed by Seattle’s defense and special teams.
But that analysis was heavily based on players:
Continuity with the offensive line
Additional practice time for Rashid Shaheed
Sam Darnold’s potential to be motivated and more confident
It was also an ode to offensive line coach John Benton.
There’s also the matter of play calling tendencies and how those players will be used. Defensively, Macdonald’s strength is knowing exactly how to use every chess piece on defense, leaning into what each player is good at and mitigating their weaknesses. It’s implied that whoever Seattle hired as the offensive coordinator, that coach would be able to do the same with the Seahawks’ offensive players.
Is Fleury going to merely copy Shanahan or do things his way? To some degree, it would be surprising if last year’s 49ers run game coordinator didn’t continue to do some of what worked in San Francisco and some of what worked in Seattle.
A lot of what worked for both teams was similar and the main difference comes down to the least expected offensive “starter”.