The Seattle Seahawks moved away from Pete Carroll as head coach two years ago, opening the door for Mike Macdonald to step in. Macdonald came from one of the best coaching trees in league history, the Harbaugh tree, having spent a decade coaching under both Jim and John Harbaugh.
Soon to be entering his third season at the Seahawks helm, Macdonald has done everything and more that the organization was hoping to see after moving away from Carroll (a Super Bowl win in year two probably wasn’t expected), and he’s quickly moving up the NFL’s head coaching ranks.
Many already consider Macdonald to be elite, like his division rival coaches, Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay. However, although it’s clear just how good Macdonald has been, he's primarily worked on the defensive side of the ball in Seattle, begging the question: how much better could Seattle be if he also worked on the offensive side?
NFL insider Daniel Jeremiah is watching for a Mike Macdonald coaching shift with the Seattle Seahawks
Aden Durde, the Seahawks defensive coordinator, has done an incredible job forming the vaunted defense that was one of the league's best last season. Durde has done so well that he is widely expected to be headed for the head coaching arena in the near future. This path would follow Klint Kubiak, who will be coaching the Las Vegas Raiders next season.
Durde has been great, but Macdonald has also played a key role in developing Seattle's defense, and that side of the ball has been his main focus since taking the job. It's worked out, of course, so nothing can be criticized at this point, only praised.
That said, NFL Network and NFL.com insider Daniel Jeremiah recently speculated on the impact Macdonald could have on the Seahawks offense, especially given that, with Kubiak out and new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury in, Macdonald could shift his focus next season.
“I would say there’s probably eight to 10 coaches in the NFL that are viewed as the elite of the elite in terms of like a side of the ball, like their knowledge and their ability to build an offense or build a defense,” Jeremiah said on the Seattle sports talk show Brock & Sock. “… I talked to one of these teams who have one of these coaches who’s on the offensive side of the ball, (and they) said he is spending an unbelievable amount of time on the opposite side of the ball. So (with) the defense humming like it is, I’m curious to see if the head coach is gonna go even spend a little bit more time and see if he can take everything he knows from the defensive side of the ball and continue to maybe pour into the offensive side of the ball.
“I think that’s a trend that’s coming right now in the NFL, is you’re going to see some of these guys with expertise switching over and trying to find the next thing or to poke holes. So that’d be one thing, if I was going out to practice, I’d be keeping an eye on that.”
Jeremiah's explanation was his response to the topic of things he was watching out for with the Seahawks next season.
Fluery has experience on the offensive side of the ball, coaching the tight ends and acting as the run game coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers. He's never coached an entire offense, though, which could be reason enough for Macdonald to jump in and lend some of his expertise, as Jeremiah said.
Remember, the Seahawks only lost one major offensive piece in Kenneth Walker III. They're essentially getting back the same offense they had last year. It's expected that the Seahawks will continue their high-flying passing game and, with Jadarian Price in the mix at running back, build a new running threat as well.
Macdonald's impact on Seattle's defense has been evident everywhere, so what if he could have the same impact on the offense? If Jeremiah is correct in his thinking, Macdonald would be the perfect head coach to take this kind of step.
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