Fleury is bringing some new ideas to the offense, and Darnold just hinted at one.
New Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Fleury is bringing a different flavor to the offense in 2026.
Yes, there will be some similarities to what Klint Kubiak ran last season, but Fleury will also put his own spin on the offense.
Whether that be how Seattle protects, the scheme, or how they run it, it is going to look different.
With the majority of the offensive personnel returning, there is also continuity there as well, but at running back is where the biggest changes, both personnel and scheme-wise, have happened.
No Kenneth Walker anymore, but Jadarian Price, Zach Charbonnet, George Holani, and Emanuel Wilson are the ones tasked with providing Sam Darnold with a competent run game.
But with Fleury coming from San Francisco, their backs are also adequate receivers, something that Darnold acknowledges, is going to be exciting to see develop in Seattle.
"Yeah, it helps the quarterback a ton because it does present a different problem for the defense," Darnold said. "I think sometimes the defense assumes, especially on third down, that the running back's going to stay in and protect so they can kind of build their pressures off of that.
"But when you're getting five guys out on a route and you're in scat protection, sometimes you got to throw hot, but if you get the protections right and you're not hot and the running back's out on a route, sometimes that's a mismatch with a linebacker. Especially with a guy like JD, George, we got a ton of backs in the backfield this year that can make people miss. So, it's going to be really fun to see what those guys can do coming out of the backfield."
As far as receiving yards from a running back, Walker led the way with 282, Charbonnet had 144, while Christian McCaffrey had 102 receptions for 924 yards.
Now, Seattle won't get McCaffrey's production, but I'd expect Price, Charbonnet, and Holani to be getting more than Walker's 282 from last season.
Running backs who are also threats in the passing game give the offense another dimension to attack with, and Darnold detailed that.
With Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed, Cooper Kupp and AJ Barner as the top pass-catching options, if we then add in a handful of running backs, Seattle's offense looks a lot more dangerous.
And Darnold just told us to expect more receptions from the running back group in 2026.
