Behind The Scenes With The Seahawks At The 2025 Senior Bowl

As practice began, it was fascinating to see how well a seasoned scout can hold a conversation while watching practice—and picking up intricacies that would go over the head of the vast majority of football fans—all at once. A conversation about the previous night’s dinner can transition seamlessly to talk of a safety’s footwork dropping into coverage, or about an offensive lineman’s hand placement, then go right back to dinner, or to a funny standup comedy special one of them just watched on Netflix, after a play ends.

While the bulk of the day’s action saw talent evaluators spread all over the field, that changed when the one-on-one pass-rush drills between offensive and defensive linemen took place. For that drill, a large circle of scouts, general managers and coaches formed around the action, with everyone, Schneider and Macdonald included, watching intently.

That Macdonald was on hand to watch these drills, to be a part of the process with Schneider and company, was a significant change from a year earlier when, during the same week in 2024, he was still interviewing for, then accepting, the Seahawks job. In future Januarys, Macdonald expects to still be coaching that late in the postseason, but he was eager to make the most out of a chance to be a part of the process this time around.

“I want to be involved in the process of deciding who’s going to be on our team,” Macdonald said sitting in the team’s suite between practices. “Who we bring in is really important in building the culture that we want and the team that we want, and you want to take advantage of every opportunity you have to make the best decisions for us. I just want to be a part of it.”

Between seemingly never-ending phone calls—he was working with new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak on hiring quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko and offensive line coach John Benton, among other things—Macdonald was able to gain valuable insight about players the Seahawks could select in the upcoming draft, and also provide valuable insight to scouts about specific things he and the coaching staff are looking for.

“It’s awesome,” Berry said of Macdonald being at this year’s Senior Bowl. “Our job is to find players that fit his schemes, offensively and defensively, so the more time we spend with him, the better feel we get for what he’s looking for, and the more refined we can get in the way we approach our process and integrate him and the coaching…