With the hiring of Greg Knapp as offensive coordinator, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck will have a new man calling the plays and working on the offensive system and gameplan for the first time since he arrived in Seattle eight seasons ago. The hiring of Greg Knapp as offensive coordinator should come as no surprise.Knapp and head coach Jim Mora Jr rose to prominence at the same time in the San Francisco 49ers organization, eventually becoming contemporary coordinators, Knapp for offense and Mora for defense. When Mora was hired in Atlanta to be head coach, he brought Knapp over to lead the offense and train the young Michael Vick.
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This makes it sound like a boring, croney hiring, but it isn’t. Knapp was once considered one of the league’s bright young minds when he was with the 49ers. Though his subsequent teams haven’t had the best success record-wise, they have had successful offenses and players have enjoyed fruitful seasons under his guidance.
The main asset that stands out is Knapp’s ability to develop young quarterbacks. While Knapp’s list of tutored quarterbacks is not all that impressive—Jeff Garcia, Vick and JaMarcus Russell—he coached each of these players to career seasons and developed them about as well as could be expected. Between the three, they went to a combined five Pro Bowls in nine seasons under Knapp.
He also led the last 49ers offense that was actually good. In his last season, the 49ers finished fifth in total yards, before falling off to 26th the following season.
With Mike Holmgren gone, the Seahawks will have a great need for a proven quarterback guru to lead the West Coast attack, especially if Hasselbeck’s deterioration rapidly continues. Assuming this coaching staff succeeds is the long-term solution in Seattle, Knapp will be the man to tutor Hasselbeck’s eventual successor.
One concern is Knapp recently had his play calling duties stripped from him in Oakland by interim head coach Tom Cable after the team failed to crack 100 yards of offense against the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 4. However, the offense had been quite successful in the weeks preceding that game, and Cable seems to be quite the micromanager, as he retained offensive line coaching duties when he became head coach in addition to the play calling.
It should also be noted that Knapp only called plays in four games during his two years with the Raiders, as head coach Lane Kiffin called offensive plays before he was fired. Also, despite what may seem to be the worst of his quarterbacks, Russell showed great improvement in the team’s final eight games, and it was still Knapp who tutored him.
As for Knapp’s conversation with Hasselbeck upon being hired, I’m sure it means little as far as the team’s future plans. The team probably doesn’t know yet whether Hasselbeck will be retained, and until he is traded or released, Hasselbeck will be treated as he’s always been—the starting quarterback for the Seahawks.
Should Hasselbeck start this season, little will change for the Seattle offense.
Knapp runs much the same system Holmgren did, and Knapp will not want to make any drastic changes that will disrupt the veteran quarterbacks. All we can really hope is Knapp does away with the dreaded third-down, fullback draw. (Though I never thought it was that bad, as we’re not a team built to succeed throwing far downfield.)
One thing that will likely change is the reliance on passing. If you look at the numbers, a Knapp-run offense has always finished in the top 10 in rushing, including number one rankings in all three seasons with the Falcons, though Vick’s legs had much to do with that.
In addition to his success with quarterbacks, running backs Garrison Hearst, Warrick Dunn and Justin Fargus all had career seasons with Knapp.
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