Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald is backtracking after publicly revealing a major rift between his team and the Denver Broncos last season.
In a recent interview with Graham Bensinger, Macdonald said the Seahawks had used video posted on social media by fans from Broncos training camp practices to prepare for the team’s regular season opener against Denver. When Broncos coach Sean Payton found out about this, he threatened to accuse the Seahawks of a Spygate-style scandal, but backed down when the Seahawks threatened a lawsuit.
On Wednesday, Macdonald said he had privately apologized to Payton, and that the story was never meant to go public.
“It’s something that I didn’t intend for public use,” Macdonald said. “It felt like it was the most appropriate thing to reach out to Sean and apologize to him for having that end up being public when it wasn’t meant to. It’s a lesson learned. I got to be better in that moment for understanding I’m responsible for what I say no matter the circumstances. I fell short in that moment.”
#Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald says he called Broncos HC Sean Payton to apologize after his Spygate story went public (when it was meant to remain private):
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 23, 2026
“It’s a lesson learned. … I’m responsible for what I say.” https://t.co/8oT85eFIFE pic.twitter.com/Ud2B10xojP
It is unclear why the anecdote was released publicly to begin with, since Macdonald seemed to be under the impression that his comments were off-the-record while recording the podcast episode.
Payton has a fiery personality, so it is not a huge surprise he reacted the way he did. Ultimately, though, he probably would have wound up looking foolish if he had tried to accuse the Seahawks of cheating by watching publicly-available video from open practices.
The Seahawks are scheduled to travel to Denver to face the Broncos in a nationally-televised Thursday game in Week 6. If Payton is still mad, he will have the opportunity to get some payback.
