New approach showing through for Macdonald with Seahawks

RENTON, WASHINGTON - JUNE 03: Head coach Mike Macdonald of the Seattle Seahawks gathers the team during practice at Virginia Mason Athletic Center on June 03, 2024 in Renton, Washington. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

RENTON, Wash. - It's just a week into training camp for the Seattle Seahawks, but some of the differences under new head coach Mike Macdonald are starting to become obvious.

Macdonald dedicated an entire training camp practice on Wednesday to an expanded walkthrough with players in T-shirts instead of jerseys and pads. On Monday, Macdonald had the team practice at 10 a.m. after spending the first several days of practice on the field in the afternoon.

The coaches stopped practice on Tuesday to spring a "mystery situation" on the players for the offense against the defense.

These are just some of the ways Macdonald is trying to keep things fresh as they enter their second week of training camp.

"A little bit of a change to the schedule, a little shock to the system," Macdonald said.

None of these changes from the Pete Carroll era are wildly different approaches, but they are an indication of a new approach from the new Seattle head coach.

The "mystery situation" was unleashed on the players during practice with the No. 1 offense having 12 seconds to score on a first down from inside the red zone against the No. 1 defense. The defense won the period cleanly with three straight incompletions as time expired.

"The mystery situation is great," linebacker Uchenna Nwosu said. "It puts you in situations that you've got to think on the fly which is good. There's going to be times like that in games so I like it. I love the way coach is coaching us and preparing us for real games."

It was an idea from associate head coach Leslie Fraizer and research analyst Brian Eayrs that Macdonald chose to implement.

"More reps for myself, (offensive coordinator Ryan) Grubb, Brian working operation," Macdonald said. "Just identifying the situation, the guys understanding what they're in. And then just kind of apply the tools that we've installed up to this point where everyone's got to stay on their toes. So it's fun, it's a good situation. We'll do that probably the rest of camp."

Macdonald has also brought a variety of championship belts to the table as well for accomplishing various tasks with the team. The defense won practice on Monday and took home the belt with the offense answering back in Tuesday's practice.

"The belt is something that's kind of fun to just mix it up and spice it up throughout camp. You know, 'who's holding the belt?'" Macdonald said. "And then we can change the criteria of how you challenge it. We got a bunch of them. They're legitimate belts, they're kind of heavy. They're pretty sweet-looking but I think the guys get excited about it. It means something to carry that thing around the building for a day or two as you're the through, not around champion right now, as the offense is, which is pretty cool."

With the practice without pads on Wednesday, quarterback Geno Smith was given the day off from work as Sam Howell and P.J. Walker took all of the snaps. It was a chance for the backups to get more reps working with Smith putting in a good first week of work already.

"Focus more was mental," cornerback Devon Witherspoon said. "Getting mental reps and going through the walk through .... we're correcting everything we need to correct, focus on what we need to focus on. Taking off the pads and stuff, giving our body a break and now we just need to activate our mental part of that."

Witherspoon also praised Smith's performances through the first week of camp.

"The way he's been playing lately is just out of his mind," Witherspoon said. "All the throws, all the keys, checks he's making. He's very on point right now and it's kind of making it hard for him, but he's really making it hard for us as well."

The day off came after the first two days of work in pads for the Seahawks. They've had just one day off since the start of training camp last week with the walkthrough day giving them a little bit of a chance to rest and reset at a slower pace.