How Macdonald’s first year with Seahawks has impressed NFL insider

Dec 12, 2024, 3:54 PM

Head coach Mike Macdonald of the Seattle Seahawks during a 2024 game. (Rio Giancarlo/Getty Images)

(Rio Giancarlo/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

There’s been turbulence, but Mike Macdonald has largely stuck the landing during his first season with the Seattle Seahawks.

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After the first 13 games of the first-year head coach’s tenure, the Seahawks are in first place in the NFC West at 8-5 and on track for their first home playoff game since 2020. But Macdonald and the Seahawks still have quite a bit of work left with a challenging four-game stretch that has two likely playoff teams and their top challenger in the division still remaining.

Regardless of what happens from here on out, The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia believes Macdonald has shown enough for Seahawks fans to be encouraged about the direction the franchise is heading. Kapadia explained why during his conversation Thursday with Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

“I think honestly, regardless of if they make the playoffs or not – and obviously if you’re a Seahawks fan, obviously you want them to make the playoffs – I still think the signs have been very encouraging for Mike Macdonald’s first season,” said Kapadia, a former Seahawks beat reporter for ESPN.

Pressing the right buttons

Kapadia has been impressed with the decisiveness and willingness to make major changes under Macdonald, pointing to the midseason decisions made at linebacker. After acquiring Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker in the offseason to be the starters, Seattle traded Baker and a draft pick to the Tennessee Titans for linebacker Ernest Jones IV on Oct. 24, and released then-leading-tackler Dodson and made rookie Tyrice Knight the starter on Nov. 11.

Since the Jones trade, the Seahawks are 4-2. Since moving Knight into the starting lineup, they are 4-0.

“Usually that’s a sign of desperation for a team. It usually doesn’t work,” Kapadia said of the midseason decisions at linebacker. “It’s like, ‘Alright, they’re grasping for straws. They don’t like the guys they have there.’ They make that change and all of a sudden those (replacements) have kind of keyed this defensive resurgence. So that to me is a sign of good coaching, where you say, ‘Alright, we made some moves in the offseason. We thought these guys, these linebackers, Tyrel Dodson (and Baker), we thought they were going to be good players for us. It didn’t work. Let’s make a change and let’s see how it works out.’ It did work out.”

Kapadia also feels changes to the much-maligned offensive line deserve attention. The Seahawks have dealt with a number of issues on the line due to performance, injury and the shocking midseason retirement of starting center Connor Williams. They’ve had four different starting right tackles, with No. 1 option Abraham Lucas finally making his season debut last month. They had a position battle at right guard before eventual winner Anthony Bradford was injured, which opened the door for rookie sixth-round pick Sataoa Laumea to become the starter over rookie third-round pick Christian Haynes, who had lost the position battle with Bradford. And second-year pro Olu Oluwatimi, who made only one start last season, has taken over for Williams at center.

“You have turnover in November and December where you’re switching pieces on the offensive line and it actually leads to an improvement,” Kapadia said. “That tells me that the coaches kind of know what they’re doing and they’re able to implement those pieces and adjust to some of those moving parts.”

The scheme fits

Along with making successful midseason changes on offense and defense, Kapadia feels Macdonald has shown the ability to successfully translate his touted defensive scheme to a new group of players in Seattle during Year 1.

“Just look at a guy like Leonard Williams, who’s having one of the best seasons for any defensive tackle in the NFL,” Kapadia said. “I think in the past he’s been a good player, a very good player. He’s obviously earned a lot of money, but I don’t think he’s played at this level consistently, and so that’s where I look at the coaching.”

Kapadia likened Williams’ performances to the breakout season Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi (formerly Justin) Madubuike had under Macdonald last season. Madubuike posted a career-best 13 sacks and parlayed it into a four-year, $98 million extension with Baltimore.

“It’s stuff like that, figuring out how do the pieces fit,” Kapadia said. “How do you get Riq Woolen to kind of bounce back from last year? How do you use Devon Witherspoon? How do you generate a pass rush without maybe the most talented edge rushers in the NFL and also without having to blitz? How do you scheme stuff up? … Those are some of the things you saw Macdonald have to do in Baltimore, and I think those are some of the things you’re seeing him do in Seattle.”

Listen to the full conversation with The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.