One of the key traits of this Seattle Seahawks squad is the lack of any kind of drama whatosever. However, that may be changing in a way none of us expected: with a story involving head coach Mike Macdonald.
Well, sort of.
Recently, Mike Macdonald had a lengthy sit down interview with journalist Graham Bensinger. But on Tuesday, a new clip began circulating on social media... a clip that was not part of the "full interview" Bensinger released online. In this clip, Mike Macdonald began sharing a story about how Broncos head coach Sean Payton accused him and the Seahawks of cheating before their 2024 season opener against Denver. The reason being because Macdonald and his staff found countless videos of Broncos plays online, filmed and shared online by
fans attending training camp. Macdonald and Seahawks general manager John Schneider pushed back hard on Payton's allegations, even threatening to sue him if necessary.
Well it turns out this conversation was apparently not supposed to be shared, per reporting from NBC's Mike Florio.
In his article on the topic, Florio writes:
"It could get ugly between the Seahawks and Bensinger’s camp. As we understand it, the conversation was not intended by Macdonald for public consumption. The Seahawks, we’re told, didn’t even know that portion of the “more off than on” the record discussion had been recorded until Tuesday morning."
Oh boy. That sound you heard was any possible future opportunities Graham Bensinger had to interview other NFL head coaches simply flying away, never to return. Yes, this is a potentially awkward lesson for Mike Macdonald to learn when it comes to watching what you say in front of a journalist and his cameras, as Florio notes. But this is also exceedingly poor, underhanded form from a seasoned journalist in a setting where his subject likely had every reason to think this was a simple conversation not to be shared.
Culpability falls on Mike Macdonald for wearing a hot mic and not saying "off the record," sure. It's a learning lesson for him.
— Aaron Levine (@AaronLevine_) September 23, 2026
But everything about that excerpt screamed "off the record" to me, and @GrahamBensinger and his staff took full advantage by releasing the video.…
Mike Macdonald and Sean Payton will face each other once again in Week 6 when the Seahawks travel to Denver for a Thursday night showdown with the Broncos. At first, the selling points of this game included 1) clash between two contenders, and what perhaps should have been the Super Bowl LX matchup, 2) an old school AFC West rival rematch, and 3) double throwback uniform game. Now we can add a new, far more prominent storyline to this game: Mike Macdonald vs Sean Payton revenge.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Report: Seahawks not happy Mike Macdonald's comments about Sean Payton were released
