Sometimes, because of Mike Macdonald’s immediate success, we forget he is a young coach — just in his third year.
It was so easy to think he had figured it all out when he led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title in 2025. But the bumps are coming high and hard this season. And that’s on Macdonald. It’s also going to be on him to make the changes needed to get over the humps and avoid wasting this season.
Continue reading Will young coach be willing to make tough decisions to save season?
The Seahawks are about to play their third straight prime-time game and fourth straight game against a playoff contender. They are trying just to split these four – because they gave away games against the 49ers and Broncos before stopping the turnover fest and dominating the Chiefs last Sunday night.
This is a big game not only because of the potential NFC playoff ramifications – the 5-2 Bears at the 4-3 Seahawks — but because it pits two successful young coaches who were Seattle’s top two choices after Pete Carroll was fired in 2024.
This is one of those what-if matchups. As in what if Ben Johnson had not wanted to stay as Detroit’s OC in 2024?
Continue reading Johnson vs. Macdonald: 2024 candidates square off in big NFC battle
This Seahawks-Commanders game is a good occasion to laud John Schneider for his work in replacing Pete Carroll about 32 months ago.
Dan Quinn was a natural candidate, considering his ties to the Seahawks under Carroll. But Schneider decided to go in a new direction, and he sniped Mike Macdonald from Washington, which then settled on Quinn (the third choice behind Ben Johnson, who stayed in Detroit that year, and Macdonald).
Quinn looked like a great consolation pick when he and rookie QB Jayden Daniels surprisingly led the Commanders to the NFC title game in 2024. But it has been all downhill since then. Quinn was 12-5 in his first season, plus two playoff wins, but he is 5-14 since then – including an 0-2 start heading into this game against the Seahawks.
Continue reading ‘This is the future’: Schneider was prescient in 2024
The offseason comes fast for Super Bowl champs, but Mike Macdonald and John Schneider were ready for it.
The Super Bowl celebration is over, and Macdonald is already back to Chasing Edges with some new coaching hires. Meanwhile, in what is no surprise, the Seahawks apparently are not considering the franchise tag for Kenneth Walker III.
Let’s run down the intriguing coaching moves by Macdonald and then take a look at Walker’s situation and project the markets for Seattle’s other key free agents.
Continue reading Savvy coaching moves, plus markets for Walker & others
As the Seahawks prepare for a belated Super Bowl rematch with the Patriots this week, their future is already a big part of the storyline.
After they play in Super Bowl LX, the Hawks reportedly will lose offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak (and probably a few assistants with him). And sometime this year the franchise reportedly will go up for sale.
So, if the Seahawks return to this game in 2027 (as we fully expect), they might do so with a new owner in addition to a new OC.
Continue reading New OC and new owner would step into potential dynasty in making
We haven’t seen Sam Darnold and the starting skill players in action yet – that apparently will happen a bit this week against the Chiefs – but the first preseason game showed everything we need to know about what this Seattle offense is trying to do.
If it succeeds, as we expect it to, the Seahawks should be well poised to repeat their 2011-13 ascent and come away with a Super Bowl trophy in Mike Macdonald’s third year (like Pete Carroll did in his fourth year).
Let’s run through the similarities that make us think this is how it is going to go.
Continue reading Hawks are setting up for another 2012-13 run
The biggest question in the wake of the Seahawks’ highly praised draft is not whether Grey Zabel will become a standout guard or whether Nick Emmanwori will help the defense become elite.
Zabel and Emmanwori were stellar picks who almost everyone expects to become big contributors as rookies.
There certainly are other questions (from us, at least) about this class: Will Elijah Arroyo be able to unlock his physical skills in the NFL? Will Tory Horton also stay healthy and not become a later-round Paul Richardson? Will Rylie Mills (ACL) become what Aden Durde thinks he will?
All valid questions. But the very biggest is this: Will Jalen Milroe develop into Mike Macdonald’s version of Lamar Jackson? If so, how long might it take for that to happen?
Continue reading What are the odds Milroe becomes a star in Seattle?
Without saying it out loud, Geno Smith basically confirmed what we always thought: Pete Carroll’s return to the NFL precipitated Smith’s departure from Seattle.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again (along with ESPN’s Brady Henderson): We think Smith very likely would still be in Seattle (under a new deal) if Carroll had not been hired by the Las Vegas Raiders.
Continue reading Carroll’s return was Geno’s out as he felt ‘disconnect’ in SeattleMike Macdonald intends to win playoff games in 2025 – and he has a pretty clever plan for making sure it happens.
It’s called familiarity. He is returning nearly his entire 10th-ranked defense from 2024 (and making it better), and he his putting together an offense that he expects to literally hit the ground running.
It started with bringing in a veteran offensive staff full of guys who had worked together before. Macdonald knew Klint Kubiak would bring run game coordinator Rick Dennison, offensive line coach John Benton and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. All have worked with him in the past.
Then, when free agency began this week, Kubiak was key in the Seahawks recruiting both Sam Darnold and Marquez Valdes-Scantling – who both know Kubiak and the offense.
Continue reading Macdonald, Kubiak are building an offense that can hit the ground runningRelationships make the NFL go round – and that was never more obvious than in all of the Seahawks’ dealings over the past week.
The franchise’s relationship with DK Metcalf soured to the point that he simply wanted to go play elsewhere. John Schneider said he could not work it out with Metcalf, so he traded him to Pittsburgh.
Then Geno Smith forced a trade when he and his agent refused to respond to Seattle’s fair contract offer – $40 million in 2025, per Brady Henderson. Whether Smith intended it or not, he got a reunion with his favorite coach, Pete Carroll, back in the NFL with the Raiders.
That might have left the Seahawks in a bind if not for Mike Macdonald’s preemptive move to hire Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator. Kubiak’s previous relationship with Sam Darnold made it easy for the Hawks to quickly replace Smith with Darnold.
Continue reading Kubiak ties to Darnold & MVS countered losses of Geno & Metcalf
