Seahawks' Macdonald Says Sean Payton Was Unhappy with Use of Video from Broncos' Public Practice

There was a time during the 2024 NFL season that Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton wasn't pleased with Seattle Seahawks, according to Mike Macdonald.

During an undated interview with Graham Bensinger that was released this week, the Seahawks head coach revealed that his Seattle team partially scouted the Broncos by using training camp clips fans posted on their public social media accounts.

"We took like 100 plays from their training camp," Macdonald said before explaining that cooler heads eventually prevailed. "… He got wind of it and he like lost it. This was the middle of the season."

Seattle defeated Denver 26-20 in the 2024 opener for each team.

The Seahawks picked off Bo Nix twice and held the Broncos to just 4.0 yards per carry on 25 rushing attempts. They were up double digits until Nix scored a rushing touchdown with fewer than three minutes remaining, although Denver never got the ball back after that score.

To be sure, Macdonald is not the first coach to try to gain an edge by culling through social media clips.

Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley told reporters earlier this month about a conversation he had with Dolphins passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo regarding a 2024 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers.

Patullo was on Philadelphia's staff at the time, while Hafley was on Green Bay's. Hafley said that Patullo revealed to him the Eagles had half of Green Bay's blitz packages because of publicly posted videos from fans at training camp:

Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who was also on Philadelphia's staff at the time, previously warned against allowing fans to record practice footage.

If nothing else, teams may be more vigilant in the future about allowing fans to record their training camp practices given some of the recent comments from coaches around the league.