First Day of Seahawks Rookie Minicamp Features ‘A Lot Of Cool Things’ For Rookies & New Coaching Staff

For Macdonald, just like players, there will be learning and development throughout the offseason that helps him get ready for training camp and the regular season as he goes through his first offseason as a head coach. He has plenty of experience to lean on, most notably his nine years in Baltimore, but Macdonald will also want to work with his coaching staff to come up with their own way of doing things that isn’t a direct replica of what John Harbaugh was doing with the Ravens.

“A lot of it’s from a blueprint of things that we’ve done in our past that we’ve tweaked, things that some coaches have done,” he said. “So just some meetings over the course of the time that we’ve been here and try to come up with a good flow, and then obviously the load and how you want to structure that or how you expect it. These are all things that we’ll go back to the drawing board and see how it comes out as we design OTAs and training camp and try to get into a good flow there. I think you’re trying to get group work, teamwork, individual sessions, so trying to find the right mix. And we ended it with a little bit of a walk through there just to get some cheap reps at the end. You won’t see the exact same thing every time. We’ll be mixing it up. We’ll work through it, but it’s a fun process to schedule the whole thing out.

“Those are conversations that we’ve been having and will have, and just like with all aspects of the program, we have a vision of the principles that we want to abide by, but the methods will be adjustable. We’ll figure it out and make tweaks as we go. If you’re not willing to shake and move and evaluate what you’re doing and making sure that you’re on the right track, then I don’t think that’s doing service, the right justice to the team. That’s how we’ll operate. That’s how it’ll always be.”

Asked about his coaching style during practice, Macdonald said that too could evolve throughout the offseason and into camp.

“As we get going, I’ll be more involved with the whole team and then when we get down to the nitty-gritty with the defense, then I’ll probably spend more time with those guys when we’re separate,” he said. “Working through all that, it’s adjustable and right now I just want to get a great feel for the team and the guys and what we’re coaching and it’s really cool to see how it all comes together from individual (drills) to team. I’m an observational guy, but that’s the thought.

“My personality, right…