Seattle Seahawks announce another break from Pete Carroll era

The Seattle Seahawks announced the team has agreed with the Tennessee Titans to hold joint practices, from August 14-15, ahead of their preseason game in Nashville, Tennessee.

Under rookie head coach Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks will visit the Titans at their practice facility ahead of their August 17th preseason game in Tennessee. It's interesting that Seattle would choose to hold a joint practice this offseason, as the team is expected to be busy installing both a brand-new offense and defense under two rookie coordinators. However, it could pay dividends to get reps in against a different team without the constraints of an actual exhibition game.

Joint practices are a novel concept in Seattle, as the Seahawks never participated in any joint practices under head coach Pete Carroll, from 2010-2023. A year after Pete Carroll said that Seattle is "always open" to joint practices, the Seahawks are finally doing it, but under a new head coach.

Seattle Seahawks to hold joint practices with the Tennessee Titans ahead of preseason matchup

It's an even rarer prospect for a team tucked away in the northwest corner of the map to hold a joint practice with a team thousands of miles away. However, it does make sense considering Seattle will be traveling to Nashville anyway for their Saturday afternoon preseason game.

The Tennessee Titans, like Seattle, are coached by a rookie head coach, Brian Callahan. However, unlike Seattle, the Titans have a history of holding joint practices recently, as joint practices were a staple under previous head coach Mike Vrabel.

These two teams should be relatively familiar with each other, despite them being in opposite conferences. The Seahawks defeated the Titans in Tennessee on Christmas Eve in a tight game less than six months ago. However, after coaching changes and personnel turnaround on both sides, it may look a bit different this year.

For Seattle, this is just another way Mike Macdonald is making his own mark on a team that was so rooted in routine and fun, wacky tradition under Pete Carroll. Gone are the days of shooting hoops on a basketball goal in the team meeting room and the loud, crazy music during team practices.

Macdonald seems to be instilling a more disciplined and traditional approach to coaching the team as he begins his young head coaching career, including a more demanding training camp regimen focused on working hard to perfect concepts rather than having fun. For the record, there is no right or wrong answer, but it is encouraging to see Macdonald instill his coaching philosophy in a team that has looked plain undisciplined at times recently.

In joint practices, it's not uncommon to see small skirmishes or even full-scale brawls. And Seattle certainly has some personalities that could easily get under the skin of opponents (looking at you, DK Metcalf). However, under two rookie head coaches who are both young and determined to build disciplined football programs, I don't expect many fireworks come August in Nashville.

It will be a great opportunity to try new things against new opponents, which in theory, should make the preseason game on August 17th a good, clean game. Perhaps, depending on how these joint practices go, Seattle may end up making joint practices a yearly tradition under Mike Macdonald.

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