There are more than a few parallels between Pete Carroll and the new Seattle Seahawks coach. One that doesn’t hold up is that Mike Macdonald will need a couple of years to turn the team around.
It seems like it was just the other day that I wrote how the predictions of a losing 2024 season for the Hawks were so obviously flawed. Make that yesterday, in fact. Virtually every prediction acknowledges just how good Macdonald’s defense was at Baltimore. For some reason, they also predict it will take a couple of years for the system to transfer to Seattle and take hold. I know Carroll is allegedly an advisor to the team, but he isn’t exactly stalking the hallways of the VMAC, ready to sabotage Macdonald at every turn.
It’s hilarious that the national media made the removal of a few murals into the crime of the century. Yet that same media also thinks that the evil mastermind of that nefarious plot can’t change the Seahawks’ culture in less than two years. So, Mike Macdonald single-handedly destroyed the Hawks culture in a day but has no track record at all in creating a winning defense. Riiight.
The Seattle Seahawks new coaches inherited very different teams
Another of the reasons the Hawks will supposedly suffer for a couple of years under Macdonald is that Pete Carroll did. So, of course, Macdonald will need a couple of years to turn the franchise around too. At least, that’s how the reasoning goes. The theory that changing the Hawks culture will be a long, drawn-out process is an idea that Tyler Lockett immediately put to rest. Just as Leonard Williams said after the Great Mural Heist of 2024, “…it’s given us a clean foundation to create whatever we want to be.”
Let’s examine the teams each coach inherited. As I wrote the other day, Carroll took over an organization coming off 4-12 and 5-11 seasons. Granted, the Seahawks weren’t setting the league on fire the past couple of years, but I’m pretty sure that 18 wins in two years is a little better than nine. The Hawks roster that was handed to Pete Carroll had a total of two Pro Bowl seasons in that span before he took over. Macdonald’s returning group has seven Pro Bowl seasons between them.
Compare the stars if you need to. Tell me how well T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson, and Deion Branch match up against DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. I’ll give you a moment to catch your breath. I know there are too many Geno haters out there, but he is still clearly better than the 35-year-old Matt Hasselbeck was at this stage of his fine career. Need to run the ball to open up the passing lanes? Who do you want, Julius Jones or Ken Walker III? The 2024 Seahawks have much better personnel than the 2010 team did.
Now add that the Hawks have already made several changes to mold the 2024 edition into a team better suited to Macdonald’s scheme. As great as a few of the former Seahawks were – looking at you, BWagz – they didn’t fit the multifaceted defense Macdonald has brought to Seattle.
Players need to adapt to multiple roles within the defense, and the additions to this team can do that. As Brock Huard said, this defense will be a blur. The stars that were held over from last year – Leonard Williams, Dre’Mont Jones, and yes, even Riq Woolen – will give Macdonald a much bigger springboard to success than Carroll enjoyed in his first season in Seattle.
