Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald says comments about Sean Payton were off the record

by · The Seattle Times

An hour after Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said Wednesday he had apologized to Denver coach Sean Payton for comments he made regarding potential cheating allegations made by the Broncos in 2024 that had surfaced, Payton said he’d accepted it.

“We spoke,” Payton said in Denver. “Listen, Mike and I are good. … The conversation last night was good.”

Payton made that statement after Macdonald told reporters in Seattle that the comments he made, that surfaced Tuesday, were intended to be off the record and that he had called Payton to explain and apologize.

“I thought it was the most appropriate thing to just reach out to Sean and really just apologize to him for having that be public where it wasn’t meant to,’’ Macdonald said.

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During what Macdonald thought was an off-the-record talk as he and talk show host Graham Bensinger sat down to begin an almost two-hour interview conducted in August for “In Depth with Graham Bensinger”, Macdonald revealed that Payton had accused the Seahawks of cheating when he found out Seattle had scoured the internet and located roughly 100 clips fans had posted of Denver running plays in training camp. 

The Seahawks used those clips in putting together their game plan for the 2024 regular-season opener between the two teams in Seattle, a contest the Seahawks won 26-20 in Macdonald’s debut as head coach.

Macdonald said Payton accused the Seahawks of attempting to circumvent NFL rules, referencing New England’s 2007 Spygate scandal and Michigan’s 2023 sign-stealing scandal. Macdonald said the Seahawks threatened to sue the Broncos if they went public with their allegations, which resulted in the two teams being locked in something of a “cold war” before the Broncos and Payton backed down. The Seahawks’ use of videos that were on public websites is not against NFL rules.

The clip of Macdonald revealing the incident was posted on Monday in the opening of the full interview between Macdonald and Bensinger on YouTube. The interview had been edited into smaller clips that were released last week, as well as a version that aired on syndicated TV.

The portion of the interview including the Payton comments, Macdonald said, was not expected to be aired.

It was removed within a few hours of being released on Tuesday, but not before some viewers had seen it and clipped it and posted it on social media.

Macdonald said despite thinking the comments would be off the record that he would take the blame for having said them.

“It’s a lesson learned, honestly,” he said. “I’ve got to be better in that moment for understanding, look I’m responsible for what I say no matter the circumstance, whether you’re mic’d up, whether you’re not, whether you have a certain type of understanding. So, I fell short in that moment. So, it stings for me, frankly. But it’s something that I’m definitely going to learn from and just a good example of you’ve got to take responsibility for the things that you said.”

Interestingly, while the comments of Macdonald and Payton seemed designed to try to move past the story, Bensinger responded via X later Wednesday to try to clarify his side of the incident.

Bensinger wrote that the Seahawks public relations staff was provided the entire interview last Wednesday and that “no concern was raised” at that time and that the section involving the comments about Payton was removed only after Macdonald reached out to Bensinger on Tuesday. He said it is his typical practice to include some of the “pre-interview conversation.”

Bensinger said he told Macdonald that “in hindsight, I regretted that exchange being included and that it was my error in judgment.”

Macdonald said his initial thought when he heard the comments had been made public was “oh crap,” and realized he had to call Payton.

“Something that they have to deal with in real-time that wasn’t on their end,” he said.

Macdonald said Payton “was great’’ in their phone call.

“I respect the heck out of him and his program,” Macdonald said. “Always have. He’s a phenomenal football coach. It’s been great to get to know him at the owners meeting the last couple of years and he was awesome. So now we’re both looking forward to moving forward from it. But I really appreciate how he handled it.”

Asked if he’d heard from Bensinger’s side on how the comments got out, Macdonald said: “It’s not important on all those details. It got out.”

Payton confirmed that he called Seahawks general manager John Schneider, who he said he has known for 20 years — and at a time when he did not yet know Macdonald well — when he heard about the Seahawks finding the clips, while also indicating he wasn’t sure exactly what the Seahawks had done.

“I’m sure my initial call to John wasn’t pleasant,” Payton said. “… I didn’t know what the heck (the Seahawks had done).

“So obviously I called shooting before I started looking,” Payton said. “And I could only do that with John because, again, he’s someone I’ll have a beer with at the (NFL scouting) combine. I consider him a good friend.”

Payton said once he realized what the Seahawks had done, he realized the blame was in part on the Broncos for not having tighter restrictions on what fans are allowed to film during training camp practices. The Broncos have tightened their rules the past two years.

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“In talking with him it allowed us to figure out how to handle our training camp relative to videos,” Payton said. “And I don’t think anything was intentional by fans, but at first you’re kind of thinking, ‘Man, how could it (happen)?’ And then we did some research online of what was available and that’s kind of how we changed our policies.”

Payton, who worked for FOX Sports in 2022 in between stints coaching New Orleans and Denver, began his comment by noting that “lord knows I’ve been in his position where you’re talking about something and … the story is three years ago.”

Still, the story figures to percolate as the Seahawks will play at Denver on Oct. 15 in a Thursday night game.

The Bensinger interview is one of a few high-profile media requests Macdonald has accepted this year in the wake of his meteoric rise as a head coach and leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title last season in his second year.

The Bensinger interview included comments from Macdonald about his youth, his decision to get into coaching, and relationship with John Harbaugh, for whom he worked under with the Baltimore Ravens for all but one season from 2014-23. Comments Macdonald made about not feeling he had done a good job as the Seahawks’ coach in his first season in 2024 had earned sizable attention.

Monday, Macdonald was asked why he had agreed to put himself out there more this year.

“If someone’s interested in talking and you feel like it’s an honest process, then why not?” he said. “I don’t have a long relationship with Graham, but I was really impressed with how they did their business. There are other podcasts that you had prior relationships with folks, and I respect the work that they do, and we have prior relationships that you want to honor. It’s probably that simple. What is it like? Honestly, it just feels the same. I understand that there’s more things out there, but we’re so insulated here that it’s just business as usual. It might change after this season, but right now, it feels pretty normal.”