After a dominant Super Bowl run and a well-received appearance on HBO's "Hard Knocks," Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is indisputably one of the league's biggest rising stars. His authentic, down-to-Earth attitude paired with his exceptional coaching is making everyone around the country grow to like him.
Well... maybe not everyone. There is apparently one person who isn't a fan of Macdonald: Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton.
In an interview with journalist Graham Bensinger, Mike Macdonald shared a story about how Sean Payton accused him and the Seahawks of cheating. Seattle opened the 2024 season at home against the Denver Broncos, which they prevailed in a bizarre 26-20 win.
Part of the competitive edge the Seahawks developed
over Denver was the fact they found several videos on social media from Broncos fans posting during training camp. Apparently they were posting full blown plays, the Seahawks scouted those videos, and used them to their advantage. Somewhere along the line Sean Payton caught wind of this and became furious. He accused Macdonald and Seattle of cheating, but Seahawks general manager John Schneider was having none of that, and threatenined to sue Payton if he went public with his allegations.
You can see the clip below.
Mike Macdonald said Sean Payton threatened to accuse the Seahawks of a spygate cheating situation because they used training camp clips from X to their advantage.
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) September 22, 2026
Seahawks then threatened to sue him.
(via @GrahamBensinger)pic.twitter.com/Ab4rHkOiNR
The Seahawks and Broncos have not seen each other since then, but they are slated to face off in Week 6 this year. It will be interesting to see if Payton and Macdonald still harbor these strong feelings when these two former AFC West foes clash.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald says Broncos HC Sean Payton accused him of cheating
