Seahawks emphasizing on-field teaching under Mike Macdonald

For Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, 2024 was a season of learning how to be a head coach. In his second season leading an NFL franchise, the coaching staff and team appear to have a clear direction toward perfection.

The Seahawks concluded mandatory minicamp on June 11, giving the players an extended summer break until training camp begins on July 23. Through rookie minicamp, organized team activities and mandatory camp, Seattle had a handful of spring practices, a few of which have been open to the media.

Dan Wyman, a radio analyst for Seattle Sports 710AM, said he's noticed a distinct difference between the style of practices from Macdonald and Pete Carroll, who was the team's coach for 14 seasons (2010-23). Macdonald's practices focus less on maximizing the number of reps they can squeeze into one practice and more on getting their limited reps right.

"For Pete, it was reps, reps, reps, reps, reps," Wyman said on Wyman and Bob, his Seattle Sports radio show with Bob Stelton. "I think Pete was like, 'OK, we’re wasting opportunities. Let’s get as many reps as we can, and [then] we can fix it on film.' Whereas here with Mike Macdonald, it’s like, we’re going to fix things on the field."

Wyman added, "It doesn't mean one's better than the other," but Macdonald and his staff are going to go back and correct a poor rep during practice rather than wait until they see it on film. In theory, that will slow things down during practice but speed up film study. The only true test of which strategy is superior will be postseason results, but it appears general manager John Schneider now has the teachers he desired.

"The thing that you see is a lot of teaching," Wyman said. "And when [Schneider] was looking for a head coach, I remember talking to him and he mentioned that. He’s like, 'We want teachers. … And you see a lot of that with [offensive line coach] John Benton.”

Macdonald and Carroll will meet as opposing head coaches for the first time on Thursday, Aug. 7 in both teams' first preseason game. Carroll will return to Lumen Field for the first time since his departure after the 2023 season.