The annual winner of the NFL’s Coach of the Year award is typically a first-year coach that returned a losing team to glory. That places new Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald in an interesting position. The Seahawks fielded a decent team throughout 2023, but just missed the postseason despite posting a respectable 9-8 record.
If Macdonald helps the Seahawks improve that record, even slightly, while qualifying for the playoffs, then he’ll receive consideration for NFL Coach of the Year honors. The NFL Network’s popular ‘Good Morning Football’ broadcast recently had the COTY discussion. Analyst Peter Schrager chose Macdonald to win the award.
“In 2013, my pick for coach of the year was a graduate assistant, a quality control coach at The University of Georgia,” Schrager said. “He bounced around between NFL and college a bit. My coach of the year is only 37 years old. When we talk about his division, we focus on two other teams, but I’m very high on his squad. My coach of the year is a first-year NFL head coach. I’m going up to Seattle. I think Mike Macdonald, the 37-year-old defensive impresario and the mastermind of last year’s Ravens defense is going to be the coach of the year,” Schrager added.
32 men. Who’s the 2024 Coach of the Year? 🤔@pschrags is going to the Pacific Northwest and @Seahawks 1st year HC Mike Macdonald pic.twitter.com/eBCiaOdkFG
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) September 2, 2024
“I’m very high on Seattle,” Schrager continued. “I think they’ve got a good offense. They brought in a college offensive coordinator from The University of Washington. I love Macdonald and his young OC. Pete Carroll is a Hall of Fame coach, but this is a totally different deal now. He has a great, young squad. Nobody is talking about Seattle right now. Geno [Smith], Kenneth Walker, and a bunch of guys defense you may not know yet. I think the Seattle Seahawks are not only a playoff team, I think they’re a force to be reckoned with. Mike Macdonald, my Coach of the Year.”
The Seahawks are being underrated around the league, so it’s refreshing to see a prominent member of mainstream media praise Macdonald. Coach Macdonald and the Seahawks begin their 2024 campaign against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
