Seahawks believed Macdonald's Payton anecdote was off the record, report says
The short version
- Mike Macdonald told Graham Bensinger the Seahawks studied fan-shot Broncos training camp video before their 2024 Week 1 game.
- Macdonald said Sean Payton called GM John Schneider in anger and threatened to go public with accusations Seattle denied.
- The Seahawks said they would sue if the accusations were made public, per Macdonald's account.
- Pro Football Talk reports the team did not know the pre-interview exchange was recorded and viewed it as largely off the record.
Seattle says it did not know a pre-interview conversation between Mike Macdonald and Graham Bensinger was being recorded, according to Pro Football Talk.
A video clip of Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has spread widely on social media after being published by reporter Graham Bensinger. In it, Macdonald describes a dispute with Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton that dates to before the teams' Week 1 meeting in 2024.
According to Macdonald, the Seahawks reviewed fan-recorded video from Broncos training camp to prepare for that opener. He said Payton later learned of it and angrily called Seattle general manager John Schneider, threatening to make public accusations similar to the Connor Stalions spying scandal, which Seattle denied and said it would litigate if the claims were aired.
The circumstances of the clip have drawn as much attention as the story itself. The conversation appears to have taken place while Macdonald and Bensinger were wearing microphones but before the formal interview started, with production equipment visible in a wide shot of the set.
Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Seahawks did not know the exchange had been recorded until the clip began circulating Tuesday morning. The team considers that portion of the conversation to have been more off the record than on it, though Bensinger faced no obligation to withhold it absent a prior agreement.
