There has been an extreme youth movement at head coach in Seattle.
The Seattle Seahawks are expected to hire Mike Macdonald, 36, as their new head coach, according to numerous reports. He becomes the youngest coach in the league, supplanting 37-year-old Jerod Mayo of the New England Patriots, who was hired earlier this month.
The Seahawks brass, including general manager John Schneider, met with Macdonald for the first time Tuesday. A day earlier, Seattle held a second, in-person interview with Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who later took his name out of the hat, informing the Seahawks and the Washington Commanders, the last two teams to fill their head-coaching vacancies, that he had unfinished business in Detroit and had decided to stay, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Seahawks are finalizing the deal after meeting with Macdonald for a second time Wednesday, a day after their initial interview in Baltimore.
In replacing 72-year-old Pete Carroll with a coach half his age in Macdonald, the Seahawks are going from the NFL’s oldest head coach to its youngest. Macdonald is 16 months younger than Mayo, who was elevated to succeed Bill Belichick.
And then there was one. With Macdonald headed to Seattle, the Commanders are left as the only team with a vacant HC opening.
Macdonald spent the past two seasons as defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. For the last decade, he has been working for the Harbaugh brothers, nine years on Baltimore’s staff in a variety of defensive roles for head coach John Harbaugh but one season (2021) as defensive coordinator for Jim Harbaugh’s former team, the University of Michigan Wolverines.
Embed from Getty ImagesMacdonald was one of the most sought after head-coaching candidates in this cycle. He had a lot on his plate, interviewing with six teams about their vacancies: the Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans, Los Angeles Chargers and Commanders.
Known and respected as a bright coach with supreme energy and enthusiasm for the game and its players, Macdonald has been slowly but surely climbing the ladder in recent years. The AFC North champion Ravens gave up the fewest points in the league in 2023, allowing 16.5 points per game. They also led the league in the sack department, getting home and putting a hat on the quarterback 60 times and also forced 31 takeaways.
Macdonald is going into this next chapter knowing that he has a lot of heavy lifting to do to bring Seattle up to that standard, though he will find talented players in the building. A perennial Super Bowl contender a decade ago with their “Legion of Boom” defense, the Seahawks have taken a monumental step back, last putting a top-20 defense on the field in 2018. The falloff coincided with ownership’s controversial decision to move previous coach Carroll upstairs into an advisory position after a 14-year run on the sideline that included two Super Bowl appearances against the Denver Broncos and the Patriots. Carroll and Co. captured the organization’s only Lombardi Trophy to cap the 2013 campaign.
Macdonald will inherit a team that also has to decide how long to stick with veteran quarterback Geno Smith, 33, who is under contract for two more seasons. The Seahawks have a young stable of running backs. The wideout trio is also elite, though Tyler Lockett, 31, has a nearly $28 million cap hit in 2024, so there is speculation that he could be moving on. The offensive line remains mediocre at best, however, it has youth and time to get better on its side. On the defensive side of the ball, the cupboard is not bare.
Seattle has a solid group of corners, however Riq Woolen often came off the field, and not due to injuries. Linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Bobby Wagner, still among the league’s elite at age 33, are headed for free agency as is defensive lineman Leonard Williams. Safety Jamal Adams is a liability in coverage and contractually but is virtually untradeable.
Plenty of potential here, but a lot of work to do, especially in a division run by the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers and with the Los Angeles Rams seemingly rounding into shape.
