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

Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times on Sep 23, 2026

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald confirmed Wednesday that comments he made about Broncos coach Sean Payton on the “Graham Bensinger” show were not intended to be made public.

Macdonald also said he called Payton after the clip surfaced to apologize and said Payton “was great.”

In the clip, Macdonald revealed that Payton accused the Seahawks of cheating after he found out they had scoured social media and found roughly 100 clips of Broncos training camp that had been posted on X and used them in preparing for the 2024 regular-season opener.

“It’s something that I didn’t intend for public use,” Macdonald said.

“But I just thought it was the most appropriate thing to reach out to Sean and apologize to him,” Macdonald said. “Ended up being public where it wasn’t meant to.”

Macdonald said he wouldn’t get into details of the clip and how it became public when he thought the moment was off the record, but he took the blame saying, “It’s a lesson learned. Honestly, I’ve got to be better in that moment. I fell short in that moment.”

Macdonald said he has tremendous respect for Payton and getting to know him the past two years at league meetings.

Macdonald said he and Payton each want to move on from the moment, which is sure to get significant attention in the lead up to the Seahawks’ game at Denver on Oct. 15.