In addition to communication, another big topic this offseason is accountability. It’s not as if the Seahawks didn’t strive to hold themselves accountable in past years, on defense or in any other phase of the game, but after a couple of years of inconsistent play on defense, and with Hurtt, who takes pride in telling it like it is without sugarcoating things, accountability seems to be a point of emphasis heading into the 2022 season.
“They have to feel that standard,” Hurtt said. “And obviously as you teach the accountability part, you’re teaching the entire system to everybody on the defense on all three levels so guys know who is supposed to be where, who’s responsible for things, who has a tough down based on the call, so there’s a lot of teaching involved with that when we have the accountability part that gets factored in.”
Said third-year edge rusher Darrell Taylor, who had Hurtt as a position coach during his first two seasons, “His assertiveness as a coach and how he is as a person just rolls over into his coaching. And I think every day, he’s making us better. He’s holding us accountable. He’s asking us to do things, asking us to get out of our comfort zone and make us better players. I think his coaching style is great for our defense and it’s going to make us better as we head into the season… He’s just on us even more just to make sure that we’re on top of everything, holding us accountable. As far as that goes, players hold each other accountable, and coaches will do same thing. It goes hand-in-hand.”
Another key part of offseason workouts is the development of young players and of rookies in particular, and so far, Hurtt likes what he has seen from this year’s draft class.
“The way our guys have taken it has been really exciting,” he said. “They’ve really risen to the challenge, especially getting out with the veteran groups and really trying to go show what they have and what they can help bring to our defense. Cause these guys are going to be a…