No music, no nonsense: What’s changed in 1st practice of Seahawks’ new Mike Macdonald era?
Byron Murphy ran around the outside of a hula hoop to simulate a pass rush.
The only sound you could hear was the first-round draft choice’s line coach exhorting him on.
Christian Haynes was about to slam his hands into a metal, padded blocking sled. Offensive line coach Scott Huff instructed the right guard and third-round pick how to lead the drill.
You could hear every word Huff said, from 30 feet away.
Rookie quarterbacks Chevan Cordeiro, Taulia Tagovailoa and 274(-plus)-pound Kory Curtis splayed passes into the field. You could hear each errant pass thud, footballs plopping into freshly grown grass.
Tyrice Knight’s cleats thumping into the turf while he ran through bags. New coach Mike Macdonald speaking instructions to his defense from way up the field. Assistants getting on those who struggled to catch on to the practice’s flow.
You could hear all of it during the first practice of Seahawks rookie minicamp Friday at the team’s Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
And from far away.
Relatively speaking, it felt like a library. For the first time in 15 years, a Seahawks practice didn’t have music blaring through it.
Pete Carroll wasn’t in charge.
Macdonald, for the first time in his 36 years on Earth, was.
The league’s oldest coach, at 72, Carroll used to blast rap music that shook players and the trees surrounding the field.
Friday the league’s youngest coach, Macdonald, wasn’t playing music at Seattle’s practice.
The Seahawks hired Macdonald in January to replace Carroll, whom they fired following the third season without a playoff berth in 12 years. Macdonald arrived after coordinating the defense for Baltimore the last two seasons, part of his eight years as an assistant coach with the Ravens.
So, The News Tribune asked Seattle’s first-time head coach following his first NFL practice: Did they have music playing during Baltimore’s practices when he was there?
Macdonald laughed.
“Yeah, we did,” he said. “Probably not as much as we’ll have here.”
About a half hour into practice Friday some music came on. Some Queen, a little Michael Jackson. It was at way-low volume, like it was coming from across neighboring Interstate 405 — almost as if it was on just so they could said they had music during practice.
“We’ll probably kick it up a little bit,” Macdonald said. “Still trying to find the right balance.”
The same can be said of how Macdonald is conducting his first NFL practices as a head coach this weekend.
For him, it’s a trial run, this three-day rookie minicamp for eight draft picks, 17 signed undrafted free agents plus 30 tryout players trying to earn contracts onto Seattle’s 90-man offseason roster.
Macdonald was hard to spot on the field from afar. He looked like other coaches. He wore a blue Seahawks team cap and green bill pulled down over his dark eyes. He had on a long-sleeved, dark-blue team shirt over matching pants.
No, no khakis or Air Monarchs. Those were staples Carroll wore during every Seahawks practice from 2010 into this past January.
The new coach, a one-time assistant for NFL linebackers, spent the first half of his first NFL practice in the back of the defense calling out formations and situations. Macdonald spent the second half of it mostly in observation mode. He stood 15 or more yards behind the offense and followed along on a play sheet as his new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb called the plays to the quarterbacks through a walkie-talkie, a simulation of the NFL’s wireless system of communicating play calls to QBs in games.
For defense, new coordinator Aden Durde called the plays.
How Macdonald observes practices versus intricately instructing in them is subject to change this month as the veteran players arrive for Seahawks organized team activities.
“AD was calling the plays on defense,” Macdonald said with a chuckle, “because I was like ‘I think I need to figure out how to run a practice first.’
“Yeah, there’s definitely taking notes on what you want to fix. ... But overall, it was great effort. Coaches were into it. A lot of enthusiasm. So, good start.”
Mike Macdonald ‘stern’
During weeks of team meetings in the first phase of the NFL’s offseason program last month, veteran Seahawks described their new coach as “stern” and “no-nonsense.”
Those are words no one has ever used to describe the bouncy, sunny, indefatigable Carroll.
Outgoing, jovial and approachable off camera, Macdonald often talks to reporters in interviews and press-conference settings with his hands on his hips. His words so far also come with a commanding vibe.
And not just to reporters. The rookies see and hear it, too.
“He’s somebody who is straightforward,” said Knight, a linebacker from the University of Texas-El Paso. “He’ll get to the point.
“He’s got a good side. We probably haven’t met that yet...
“I know he expects the best of me, and I expect the best. I think we’ll get a long pretty well.”
Asked if he’s seen Macdonald smile yet, Knight said: “The first time I saw him is when he told me to smile, earlier this morning.”
Unlike every other Seahawk who has been here a day or three before this, those who played for the one-of-a-kind Carroll, these Seattle rookies don’t know any NFL head coach other than this one. Macdonald is all that matters.
For Murphy, the 16th pick in last week’s draft who played defensive tackle for Carroll’s protege Steve Sarkisian at the University of Texas, Macdonald’s way is perfect.
Music. Or no music.
“Oh, man, I LOVE Coach Macdonald,” Murphy said.
“I feel like he’s very demanding. I feel like I want to play for a coach like that, that pushes me. A coach that wants me to be great.
“So, I love him.”
This story was originally published May 3, 2024 at 3:59 PM.
