Why Mike Macdonald chose to hold Seahawks’ first joint practice in 33 years

It was Pete Carroll who coined “always compete” in Seattle, but it’s Mike Macdonald who has given that mentality a new face.

In Nashville, with the first Seahawks joint practice since 1991 - a two-day affair, by the way - coach Macdonald was able to position his team to embody the spirit of disciplined toughness that’s been building all summer.

“We know a lot of the coaches over there, how they operate and it’s an opportunity to put it in a setting where you can control the tempos, control the drills, get some high intensity [workouts] for the guys so they’re ready to roll. It’s just easier, a little bit controlled than true game reps,” Macdonald said back in June.

“It’s hard to go against yourself all the time, especially all the way through OTA, so it’ll be good to see another offense. And for our offense, it’d be good to see what they’re running on defense. It’s just good to see different styles.”

This 48-hour scrimmage is yet another significant departure from how things were done before, but it follows the growing trend of the NFL of late. In fact, the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders are the only two teams this season to not hold a joint practice.

The strategy behind it is two-fold. On the one hand, get starters even more specific reps (One of Macdonald’s favorite words) against quality opponents, but with the structured discipline of practice.

Both rookie head coaches opted for meaningful starter time all week, and none in the actual preseason game.

The other aspect of joint practice is to be able to beat up on somebody else for a change. And I almost mean beat up literally.

I was surprised at the response of Macdonald to the practice last week. You know the one, the practice with five fights in it? Included blood and flying helmets?

In retrospect I shouldn’t have been as surprised, yet Macdonald’s response was essentially ‘yes to the aggression, no to putting the team at risk.’

Watch the Baltimore Ravens defense last year. Macdonald likes football bullies.

Cool then, to see a couple of the usual suspects plus a very encouraging surprise on this list of standouts from Gregg Bell.

Devon Witherspoon is the most obvious on the list. Nwosu is not a surprise, and neither is Byron Murphy - though I’m particularly glad to see how well he’s succeeded at every turn in training camp. His play has been exactly what you’d hope in a first-round pick. Coupled with the absence of character issues, continuation of his reputed high work ethic, and a host of good linemen around him, he’s setting up to be one of the most impactful rookies in the NFL.

The surprise is Riq Woolen.

To get him back in 2022 form would give Seattle a secondary that not even last year’s Ravens had.

I’ve been looking for something like Woolen to happen this year. Macdonald has a quiet ferocity of excellence that’s going to land with some players in a way that didn’t last season.

Woolen didn’t get shorter, slower or develop crap hands last year. His effort and focus fell off the planet.

For him to look like he’s embraced the staff’s messaging - and this week is not the first indication this is true - is big.

I’m using Woolen as the example, because he’s the most talented player on defense that had the worst 2023 season for reasons unknown.

But this is part of Macdonald’s M.O. Preach dedication to craft, and create opportunities for players to either rise to the moment or learn from their mistakes.

I would have liked to learn that at least one of these new offensive linemen has such a mentality, but there’s still a lot to celebrate from the two-day stretch in Tennessee.