Tag Archives: Mike Macdonald

Preseason, The roster

Howell, O-line still have work to do, but Mike Mac’s defense looks good

Leave a comment

Well, August is here and the first preseason game is in the books, which means our three-month break from football is over and it’s time to start paying attention again.

One thing that seems clear is John Schneider and Mike Macdonald have made the Seahawks better over those past three months.

While Macdonald has been building what looks to be a much tighter, more disciplined defense, Schneider’s addition of center Connor Williams answered the last big question on offense. If Williams is healthy and plays like he did in Miami – and if Ryan Grubb can call an NFL game — the offense should be more consistent than it was in 2023.

If that happens, the Hawks could be better than the nine-win team we peg them for. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Instead let’s look at the roster by position after the 16-3 win over the Chargers in the preseason opener.

Continue reading Howell, O-line still have work to do, but Mike Mac’s defense looks good →
NFL draft, The roster

Yes, the Hawks look more like a playoff team now

Leave a comment

A Seattle Times headline asked: With roster shuffling mostly done, are Seahawks closer to being a playoff team?

The answer to that question is “yes” – because John Schneider found an innovative new coach, improved the defensive line and secondary and seems to have made the offensive line and linebacker spots better, too.

Schneider hit what we consider to be home runs with the hiring of Mike Macdonald as coach, the re-signing of Leonard Williams and the drafting of Byron Murphy II in the first round. Macdonald wanted to “build a wall” — and those two guys should help do it.

In the draft, the Hawks also focused on adding blockers – three linemen and a tight end. And they added a much-needed linebacker and Auburn’s starting cornerbacks as well.

Here’s a positional rundown after the draft (RB not mentioned as nothing to note there).

Continue reading Yes, the Hawks look more like a playoff team now →
Coaches, State of the team

Players: Macdonald and ‘right coaches’ bring ‘urgency’

Leave a comment

Amid the hullabaloo by some overly nostalgic fans about Mike Macdonald’s rearranging of the VMAC, his players seem to get it. They know Pete Carroll’s missing hoop and the temporarily blank walls are a metaphor for a clean slate, a new beginning.

They also know the expectations are much higher now and being delivered in a more defined, exacting way than Carroll and his staff were doing over the last few years.

It’s all as it should be, and the smart ones – players and fans – understand that. The players who don’t won’t be around very long. And that’s as it should be, too.

The core leaders of this defense – Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu and Julian Love – sound bought in.

Continue reading Players: Macdonald and ‘right coaches’ bring ‘urgency’ →
Coaches, Free agency, The roster

Macdonald: ‘We want to set the standard in Seattle’

Leave a comment

In Pete Carroll’s last
season in Seattle, his
platitudes and vague
descriptors about what needed to be fixed on the defense had worn super thin and it was so obvious that he really had no idea how he was going to fix the weakest part of his team after years of failing.

That’s why it is so refreshing to hear Mike Macdonald
quietly but confidently talk about how elite his defense is going to be. He outlines it so clearly that you can just see it happening — and not taking long either.

Whether he is talking about how expectations lead to Super Bowl wins, about his motto of Chasing Edges or about “building a wall up the middle” of his defense, he sounds assured that all of these things will happen.

His resume supports his words, which is why he evokes such confidence from so much of the fan base – a huge turnaround from the last couple years of the fading Carroll era.

Here are some of the encouraging things Macdonald said at the NFL owners meetings in Orlando this week, as reported by Michael-Shawn Dugar of The Athletic and John Boyle of Seahawks.com.

Continue reading Macdonald: ‘We want to set the standard in Seattle’ →
Free agency, The roster

The roster so far: ‘So much work still to do’

1 Comment

“We’re trying to obviously get big up front and get really strong down the middle of our defense and then try to build from there.” – John Schneider on Seattle Sports 710

The Seahawks entered the offseason needing to fill six positions before they got to the draft. They have gone 5 for 6, re-signing Leonard Williams and Noah Fant, trading for Sam Howell and swapping out their linebackers and safeties.

Player for player, they made these swaps:

They also retained Michael Jackson, Darrell Taylor, Artie Burns, Jon Rhattigan and Myles Adams (ERFA). They brought back former UDFA George Fant, who will start at right tackle if Abe Lucas can’t and will play sixth man/super tight end and swing tackle if Lucas is healthy. They also added another backup guard, Tremayne Anchrum Jr.

They still have no left guard as John Schneider notably continues to avoid spending any money on interior linemen, but they otherwise have addressed all of their needs.

As Mike Macdonald told NFL Network at the league meetings in Orlando, “We have a plan in place, but you’re just trying to do your best day by day and stack days. And now we look back five or six weeks, I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress. But there’s just so much work still to do.”

Continue reading The roster so far: ‘So much work still to do’ →
The roster, Trades

Is Howell a trade for Hasselbeck — or for Whitehurst?

Leave a comment

As fans across social media debate the Sam Howell trade, perhaps the best way to frame the discussion is thus: Did the Seahawks just trade for Matt Hasselbeck or did they trade for Charlie Whitehurst?

In other words, did they add a potential franchise passer or a second-tier backup? Or maybe something in between?

A few weeks ago, we set the table for the transition from holdover quarterback Geno Smith to a new QB who becomes Mike Macdonald’s guy. In that post, we retraced how Mike Holmgren landed Hasselbeck in Year 3 (2001) and how John Schneider took a swing on Whitehurst in his first year (2010), missed and didn’t get his QB until Year 3 either.

Hasselbeck turned into a franchise savior while Whitehurst was merely Clipboard Jesus. Which might Howell be?

Continue reading Is Howell a trade for Hasselbeck — or for Whitehurst? →
NFL Combine, Trades

‘The starter until he’s not’: Is a trade viable?

2 Comments

“That’s a tough question, and it’s one that I probably can’t answer right now.” – Mike Macdonald on whether Geno Smith and Drew Lock will be on the team

Mike Macdonald seemed to answer the question raised by the Seahawks’ conversion of Geno Smith’s bonus last week: A trade is not off the table.

In an interview aired Sunday, KCPQ’s Aaron Levine asked the new coach, “Are Geno Smith and Drew Lock both involved in the future of this team going forward?”

Macdonald said, “That’s a tough question, and it’s one that I probably can’t answer right now. We’re doing a lot of work on those guys.

“Right now we’re in the phase of figuring out who they are. Obviously one or two or both would fit into our plan moving forward, but right now I probably don’t have that answer for you.”

At the Combine two days later, John Schneider also was noncommittal, saying Smith is “the starter until he’s not.”

Continue reading ‘The starter until he’s not’: Is a trade viable? →
The roster, Trades

Is a Geno trade coming?

1 Comment

Geno Smith is still the Seahawks’ quarterback, but there certainly are signs that he might not be for a whole lot longer – if John Schneider gets a trade offer he likes.

It was no surprise Smith was still on the roster as of Feb. 16, which triggered the guarantee on his $12.7 million salary. That means he will be Seattle’s QB in 2024 — unless another team trades for him.

Where does this trade talk come from all of a sudden? Directly: From Adam Schefter. Indirectly: From Mike Macdonald and new OC Ryan Grubb.

Continue reading Is a Geno trade coming? →
Coaches

Hawks are following Dan Quinn’s hiring trends; will it work for them?

Leave a comment

The Seahawks might not have hired Dan Quinn as their coach, but John Schneider and Mike Macdonald sure took a couple of pages out of his coaching manual as they selected Macdonald’s coordinators.

The obvious tie is new DC Aden Durde, who worked for Quinn in Atlanta from 2018 to 2020. He now becomes the first British-born defensive coordinator in NFL history, and Macdonald surely is counting on his teaching abilities to help fix Seattle’s front seven. More on him later.

The more intriguing – and significant — hire is OC Ryan Grubb, who oversaw UW’s high-octane offense the past two years. There is a crazy Quinn-UW-Alabama triangle going on with this move.

The Hawks have to hope it works out better for them than it did for Quinn’s Falcons a few years ago or for most of the teams over the past 20-25 years that have tried to elevate a college play caller with no prior NFL experience.

Continue reading Hawks are following Dan Quinn’s hiring trends; will it work for them? →
Contracts, The roster

History says Geno will lead the Hawks to the playoffs in 2024, then be replaced

2 Comments

If history is any predictor, Geno Smith will lead the Seahawks to the playoffs in Mike Macdonald’s first season – and then be replaced shortly thereafter.

John Schneider has been involved in a new Seattle coach’s transition period with a lame-duck quarterback twice before and been instrumental in finding the franchise quarterback both times.  

Continue reading History says Geno will lead the Hawks to the playoffs in 2024, then be replaced →