Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton have spoken and resolved any concerns with each other after a video emerged with Macdonald discussing a 2024 "Cold War" between the teams centered around allegations of cheating.
Speaking Wednesday, Macdonald said his comments were meant to remain private, and that he apologized to Payton after they emerged Tuesday.
"It's something that I didn't intend for public use," Macdonald said. "I felt like it was the most appropriate thing to reach out to Sean and really just apologize to him for having that end up be public where it wasn't meant to."
Speaking later Wednesday afternoon, Payton said he talked with Macdonald on Tuesday night and accepted the apology.
"He and I are good," Payton said. "Lord knows I've been in his position, where you're talking about something (privately and it becomes public)."
In a clip posted on X on Tuesday from Macdonald's recent interview with Graham Bensinger, the Seahawks coach described a private interaction with Payton during the 2024 season in which the Broncos coach accused Seattle of cheating, leading the Seahawks to threaten a lawsuit. Macdonald said the clip came from a segment of the interview that he did not believe would be shared publicly.
In a statement posted on X on Wednesday evening, Bensinger said the complete interview with Macdonald was sent to the Seahawks' public relations team to review last week, five days before it was published in full on YouTube, and that no concerns were raised regarding Macdonald's comments about Payton. He said that portion of the video was removed after Macdonald reached out on Tuesday morning to express concern.
"I told Coach that, in hindsight, I regretted allowing that exchange to be included and that it was my error in judgment," Bensinger said.
Macdonald called the situation "a lesson learned."
"Honestly, I gotta be better in that moment for understanding, look, I'm responsible for what I say, really no matter the circumstance, whether you're mic'd up, whether you're not, whether you have some type of understanding," he said. "So I fell short in that moment. So it stings for me, frankly, but it's something I'm definitely gonna learn from."
He said Payton took the apology well.
"Sean was great," Macdonald said. "I respect the heck out of him and his program. He's a phenomenal football coach. It's been great to get to know him at the owners' meetings the last couple years. And he was awesome. So I know we're both looking forward to moving forward from it."
In the video clip that emerged Tuesday, Macdonald told Bensinger the Seahawks scouted roughly 100 plays from Broncos training camp that were posted on social media by fans ahead of their 2024 season opener against Denver, Macdonald's first game as head coach. Seattle won the opener 26-20. In the middle of the season, Macdonald said, Payton learned of the Seahawks' scouting and called them with accusations of breaking rules, referencing the New England Patriots' Spygate scandal and the sign-stealing scandal at the University of Michigan, where Macdonald served as defensive coordinator in 2021.
Macdonald said in the clip that the Seahawks had not cheated, using only publicly available footage, and they were prepared to respond with a lawsuit if Payton went public.
"We had to counter with him to say, 'Hey, look, if you come out with this, we're going to sue you, because it's not true,'" Macdonald said in the clip. "He backed down, but he was killing John (Schneider), our GM.
"He let it go. But it was like the Cold War. He's like, 'I'm gonna hit the button, I'm gonna hit the button.' We're like, 'Well, we're gonna hit the button.' So none of us hit the button."
Speaking Wednesday, Payton elaborated about the 2024 interaction, though he declined to say how he learned about the Seahawks' scouting. At first, Payton said, he didn't know how Seattle got footage of plays from Denver's training camp, so he phoned Schneider, whom he has known for decades, adding, "I'm sure my initial call to John wasn't pleasant."
"So obviously, I called shooting before I started looking," Payton recalled with a laugh. "And I could only do that with John because, again, he's someone I'll have a beer with at the combine. I consider him a good friend."
Then, Payton said, the Broncos searched social media and found practice videos, which led the team to change its own policies in future camps.
"Talking with (Schneider) allowed us to handle our training camp relative to just videos," Payton said. "And I don't think anything was intentional by fans. But at first, you're thinking, how could …? And then we did some research online of what was available, and that's kind of how we changed our policy.
"So it helped us to some degree."
The Broncos have had reduced capacity at training camp the past two summers because of construction on the team's new training facility. The limited fans attending training camp since 2025, seated in temporary bleachers, have not been allowed to record any parts of practice. Signage that says "Protect our plays" has been posted, with team security closely monitoring for any violations of the policy.
The Seahawks also do not allow fans to record video during training camp, making specific announcements during certain periods of practice. Most NFL teams have policies against filming training camp practices, but some, like the Dallas Cowboys when they are in Oxnard, Calif., do not.
The Broncos and Seahawks will meet for the first time since the 2024 opener on Oct. 15 on "Thursday Night Football" in Denver. Other than that night, Payton said he's rooting for Macdonald's team.
"We're pulling for them except for one game," Payton said. "They're playing our division. They're in the NFC. Like I said, the conversation last night was good. Have a ton of respect for him, and that was it."
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
