2024 Seahawks Final Grades: Evaluating Year 1 of the Macdonald era

Jan 12, 2025, 1:33 PM | Updated: 3:02 pm

Staff report

The first season of the Mike Macdonald era is officially in the books for the Seattle Seahawks.

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The Seahawks went 10-7 in Macdonald’s head-coaching debut, setting a franchise record for the most wins by a first-year coach. It marked a one-win improvement over the back-to-back nine-win campaigns of 2022 and 2023. But it ended just shy of a playoff berth, with Seattle losing out on an NFC West tiebreaker with the Rams and becoming the first 10-win team to miss the postseason since the NFL went to a 17-game slate in 2021.

How did the 2024 Seahawks fare? Seattle Sports reporters Zac Hereth and Cameron Van Til gave their season grades below.

OVERALL

Hereth: Overall, this season felt like a small step forward for the franchise. The Seahawks surpassed their win total from 2023, showed improvement on defense and had a number of young players step up throughout the season. Those are all very good things. It becomes more impressive when you take into consideration that they missed on essentially every free-agent signing in the offseason. In just about any other season, they would reach the playoffs at 10-7. However, it felt like they left some things on the table, too. The NFC West was up for grabs, but they couldn’t take control and left the door open for a Rams team that got off to a terrible start. And it feels like they could have gotten more out of the offense, even with the struggles on the offensive line. Grade: B-

Van Til: From a big-picture perspective, this season was a success. The Seahawks reached the 10-win mark for the first time since 2020, a feat that would have been enough to reach the playoffs in most other years. They turned a corner after the Week 10 bye and closed strong, winning six of their final eight games. And the defense took a major step forward, developing into one of the best units in the league over the second half of the season. That being said, there certainly are some things the Seahawks will lament. The offense was a big disappointment, as O-line issues once again hamstrung the unit’s overall potential. The loss to the 3-14 Giants was really bad. And in a year when the NFC West was there for the taking, Seattle wasn’t able to take advantage. But ultimately, this season was about laying a foundation for the future. And the Seahawks certainly made good progress in that regard. Grade: B

OFFENSE

Hereth: Once you get past some of the passing numbers and Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s breakout year, there just wasn’t much to like about the offense in 2024. The Seahawks had no run game to speak of for much of the season and consistently hurt themselves with turnovers, penalties and missed opportunities on offense. They were eighth in the league in passing yards, but 28th in rushing, 24th in giveaways and tied for 14th in red-zone touchdown rate. On top of that, they combined for the most false starts and holding calls of any team in the league with 53 (28 false starts, 25 holdings). Considering the talent the team has at the skill positions, it was very disappointing. But it’s also not a huge surprise due to immense struggles on the offensive line, which remains the team’s biggest weakness. Oddly enough, the offense was actually on par with what it was a season ago. Grade: C-

Van Til: With a quality quarterback and considerable skill-position talent, the offense was supposed to be the strength of this Seahawks team. But once again, this side of the ball was crippled by struggles up front along an injury-depleted offensive line. Geno Smith was under frequent duress, facing one of the highest pressure rates in the league. There was little room to run, resulting in a ground attack that was among the league’s worst. There also were a slew of costly turnovers, along with a maddening mess of drive-killing penalties and sacks. It all resulted in a clunky offense that showed some flashes of potential through explosive plays, but struggled to sustain drives while falling into far too many third-and-long situations. The Seahawks finished 18th in points per game and 21st in points per drive, which is incredibly disappointing given the unit’s overall playmaking talent. Seattle won’t be a serious contender until it fixes its O-line. Grade: C-

DEFENSE

Hereth: If there’s an area to be most encouraged by on this team, it’s got to be the defense. After early struggles, particularly against the run, the Seahawks turned things around midseason while making tough personnel decisions like moving on from opening-day starting linebackers Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker. One of the best parts about the improvement on defense was the amount of players who seemingly took a step forward – safety Coby Bryant, rookie linebacker Tyrice Knight and edge rusher Derick Hall come to mind. Even a veteran like Leonard Williams had what could be considered the best year of his career. There were a couple hiccups for this group down the stretch, including a lackluster performance against what was essentially the Rams’ second-team offense in the season finale, but the group is certainly trending in the right direction. Grade: B

Van Til: The defense made enormous strides in Year 1 under Macdonald. From 2023 to 2024, the Seahawks surged from 25th to tied for 11th in scoring defense, from 29th to fifth in points allowed per drive, and from 30th to 14th in total yardage allowed. But even that only tells part of the story, as the season really was a tale of two halves for Seattle’s defense. After struggling early on and making some midseason adjustments – including a shakeup at inside linebacker – the unit took off and was one of the league’s best over the second half of the year. Over the final nine weeks of the season, the Seahawks tied for third in defensive points allowed per game and ranked fourth in total yardage allowed per game. They held six of their final nine opponents to fewer than 20 offensive points, while also limiting six of their final nine opponents to fewer than 300 yards in regulation. If I were viewing this season in a vacuum, I’d give the defense a B+. But because the first half of the year was somewhat of a feeling-out process in Macdonald’s new cutting-edge scheme, I’m adding weight to the second half and bumping the grade up a notch. Grade: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS

Hereth: If we were grading solely on the performances of kicker Jason Myers and punter Michael Dickson, the Seahawks would receive a very high grade here. Myers and Dickson each had excellent seasons. However, the return game had its share of struggles. Season-opening returners Laviska Shenault Jr. and Dee Williams combined for five lost fumbles – more than half of the team’s season total – before being cut in November. The Seahawks also had the second-worst average starting field position in the league, a pretty damning stat for the return game since the defense was at or near the top of the leaderboard all season in three-and-outs forced. Additionally, the blocked field goal against the Giants in Week 5 was potentially the difference between this team making the playoffs and not. Grade: C

Van Til: Dickson had another strong year, helping Seattle rank fifth in net yards per punt. Myers also was steady, finishing in the upper half of the league in field-goal percentage. But aside from that, there were far too many mistakes. Shenault and Dee Williams were shaky in the return game, combining for five fumbles and four muffs before both being released in November. Myers’ potential game-tying field goal against the Giants was blocked in the closing minutes, costing the Seahawks a shot at overtime. Seattle also allowed a kick return touchdown against the Jets. And while Myers had a nice year overall, his missed extra point proved costly in an overtime loss to the Rams. The special teams gaffes were simply too frequent and too damaging. Grade: C-

COACHING

Hereth: If Macdonald showed us anything this year, it’s that he is a shrewd decision maker. As mentioned earlier, the team moved on from both its starting off-ball linebackers and returners during the middle of the season. Macdonald also made other key personnel decisions like keeping Bryant in the starting lineup when Rayshawn Jenkins returned from injured reserve. All of those seemed to be the right call. The Seahawks’ situational approach was refreshing after many seasons under Pete Carroll’s conservative style. Decisions like when to go for it on fourth down seemed to have a good balance of analytics and going with your gut. I also like that Macdonald sent a message to the team that nobody is above the rules when he benched cornerback Riq Woolen at the start of one the most important games of the year. With all of that said, the inability to get the most out of the offense brings this grade down slightly. Grade: B

Van Til: There were some growing pains along the way, as to be expected for a 37-year-old first-time head coach like Macdonald. And at offensive coordinator, the Ryan Grubb experiment didn’t work out. But ultimately, Macdonald gets a high mark after an impressive head-coaching debut. He significantly improved the defense, transforming it from a bottom-half unit in recent years to a group that was among the league’s best over the second half of 2024. He wasn’t afraid to make bold midseason personnel changes, which paid off brilliantly with Bryant, Knight and linebacker Ernest Jones IV each playing major roles in the defensive turnaround. And when a 1-5 skid threatened to send the season spiraling out of control, Macdonald helped right the ship and guided the Seahawks to a 6-2 finish that had them within a whisker of a division title. The future certainly looks bright with Macdonald at the helm. Grade: A-