How Seahawks Use Defensive 'Chameleons' to Keep Offenses Guessing
The NFL is trying to copy the scheme, but Mike Macdonald knows its actually not about Xs and Os
Mike Macdonald was the defensive coordinator at Michigan five years ago. Now his defense is the blueprint that most of the NFL is either trying to catch up to or copy.
In four seasons as an NFL defensive coordinator, Macdonald has had the number one defense with two different organizations, has won the Super Bowl, and has started to build out a coaching tree that could rival Sean McVay’s in a matter of time.
It’s not just Klint Kubiak going to the Raiders, but also the growing list of former Macdonald assistants who have started to build defenses of their own as coordinators. Including Jesse Minter, the new head coach in Baltimore who is trying to give the Ravens the defense that they probably could have had if they had boldly promoted Macdonald a couple years ago.
What’s so special about Macdonald’s defense?
I asked Seaside Joe subscribers for questions this week. If you want to be included on the Super Joes Q&As in the future, upgrade to the founding members tier today:
Grant: Do the Seahawks, and specifically Mike Macdonald, place more stock on players' versatility than most teams/coaches around the league? Maybe I'm just a homer, but it seems like this is a MM thing, and a different approach to what Pete Carroll and JS tried to build.
I don’t want to overreach and say that I can assess how all 32 teams value “versatility” and then rank them and declare that the Seahawks are first, or second, or 10th. However, I think it’s fair to say that Seattle is one of the suspects to be the most-invested in positional versatility.
Emphasis on “positional” because there are many types of versatility.
And Pete Carroll was actually one of the coaches most interested in a kind of versatility, although his was a little bit different than Macdonald’s.
For Carroll, versatility was finding a guy, an athlete, maybe a “tweener”, and finding a place for him that other coaches didn’t recognize or have on their defense. We can find some evidence of this from a late 2012 article and quotes by Carroll, right when his defense and team started to go from mediocre to great:
"If you wanna point to the height of the corners or the quarterback, it goes to what we've looked for, and that really goes back to SC," said Carroll, who coached the USC Trojans for nine years. "We're looking for uniqueness in our players -- the quality that separates them."
One example is Red Bryant, a 6-foot-4, 323-pound behemoth miscast as an interior tackle during his first two years in the NFL. The Seahawks saw him as a lineman who played too high and wasn’t active enough with his hands inside, so they moved him outside, and he became, in Carroll’s words, “a monster.”
"I've always thought the same way in what you're trying to find: We're looking for what a guy has, not what he hasn't," Carroll said. "You try and develop those qualities, make that your way of looking at the world. We're a developmental staff, and that is a guideline to our overall approach and philosophy."
Bryant was one example, but hardly the only one. Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman were two of the more famous cases, as Chancellor was built like a linebacker but playing safety, and Sherman was considered too tall to be a starting cornerback; later, he set the mold for what a starting cornerback should look like. That speed was not everything.
The same could be said, in a sense, for Russell Wilson. Carroll wasn’t looking for prototypical players, he was looking for special players and actually thrived because they were atypical:
"What I've always looked for -- what are the special attributes that make the guys different as a player?" Carroll said. "And we try and coach with the same thought, to bring out those qualities. It's going to be tailored to them, what their strengths are. We're trying to find what's special about them, and adapt on our end."
And something else that Carroll said could help explain why the Seahawks also empowered Macdonald to find versatile players and build the team in his vision, not anybody else’s:
"Paul Allen gave us the chance to do it the way we wanted to do it, to see what would happen, and develop who we were at SC," he said. "I've never felt like guys trust that way of doing it (in the NFL) like this place does."
Even though Allen died in 2018, the Seahawks didn’t change anything about how they manage the “football people” (hands off—although Pete disagreed with that when he was fired in 2024) when Jodi Allen took over. Whether or not that continues under new ownership remains to be seen, but you’re not wrong to wonder if Macdonald is the coach most interested in versatility.
Except Macdonald’s versatility is different than Carroll’s and it can be summed up in one simple term:
“Chameleons”
Macdonald is looking for chameleons. He’s looking for players who look like one thing, but have the skillset to do something else that you wouldn’t expect from them. Such as:
Leonard Williams dropping into coverage like a WILL linebacker
Devon Witherspoon setting up as a corner, then blitzing like an edge
Nick Emmanwori not having a position, so he can do anything at any time
During his first year with the Seahawks, Macdonald tried to explain how his defense would keep offenses (which always have the advantage) on their toes, and that it wouldn’t be a copy of what he did in Baltimore:
"The offenses out there are too good to run three things and just say, 'Hey, we're going to beat you,'" Macdonald said. "Philosophically, we're all in this thing together, and the players need to know that we're trying to put them in advantageous positions, so we're constantly trying to give them little margins of advantages.
And if you're not doing that, then what are you doing as a coach?
Whether it's through technique or fundamentals or communication or scheme. The system that we run is built on concepts that are adjustable and we can layer it together. We're not going to get there overnight, it's going to be a process, but we have we have, we understand what that takes. The cadence will vary based on how fast the guys can pick it up, and what they can do. So the spirit of how we play and the principles of how we play, what you've seen on the tape in Baltimore will be the same, but I can't guarantee you the schematics will be the same here, because we're not sure what we're good at yet."
And furthermore, he emphasized that Xs and Os isn’t what matters the most. Instead, good coaches should be focused on communication and having all 11 players understand the assignment as one:
“I think the X’s and O’s, man, they’re overrated,” Macdonald told local reporters after practice on Thursday. “It’s about how you play. It’s about how the 11 people on the field can work as one. There’s only so many things you can do with 11 guys out there. There’s only so many [defensive backs] you can put on the field. There’s only so many people who can get on the line of scrimmage. There’s only so many coverage structures.”
“We’re looking for anything, any little marginal thing that’s going to help us win. We’re always trying to push the envelope,” Macdonald added. “We feel like we want people chasing us. So [it] kind of gets you the mentality of we’re not copying anybody. It’s going to be our style of play. It’s going to be our team, our way of doing things.”
Offenses have an advantage because they dictate the plays. The defense only reacts to what the offenses call on that down. However, by being unpredictable because of their chameleons, the Seahawks don’t need to blitz as often as other defenses, which allows them to still drop seven into coverage and still pressure the quarterback in spite of that.
Do other teams care as much?
Well, a lot more teams have Mike Macdonald coaches running their defense than did two years ago. If they didn’t care last year, they care now or they will soon.
zezinhom400: I keep coming back to our OL as the most undervalued element of our 2026 team, but, is that just me being a homer? I keep starting and then abandoning the analysis to prove this out: that Seattle may have been an around-average OL in total (run+pass) up until the Rams loss, but then flipped a switch and was one of the best OL’s in the league for the last 10 games including the playoffs. Meaning Walker’s rise to prominence wasn’t just Walker. And of course if this was true and with all 5 starters coming back, plus Coach Benton, maybe the worry about our RB1 or our WR4 is less worrisome.
Is this the case or am I just overly optimistic?
I guess it would depend on what you mean as undervalued. When I posted Seaside Joe’s survey results recently, virtually nobody was concerned about the offensive line, a drastic change from how that unit was valued the 10 years prior.
Whether the Seahawks offensive line got better after the first Rams game certainly could be true, but they don’t operate in a vacuum either.
Klint Kubiak could have gotten better after that week. Sam Darnold too. The opposing defensive front-sevens could have been easier also. Seattle could have also just been riding on a high as they won every single game after the Rams loss.
From re-watching last year’s Seahawks games, I have no doubt that Kenneth Walker III is one of the best running backs in the NFL. He earned Super Bowl MVP and his free agent contract with the Chiefs. Two things can be true:
Kenneth Walker is awesome
The Seahawks offensive line did improve
I don’t think you’re “overly” optimistic, because I haven’t heard anyone say that they’re concerned or pessimistic about the Seahawks offensive line. While they aren’t praised as a top-five unit yet, would it be all the surprising if they finished the year as one? Not really.
Investments like Charles Cross, Grey Zabel, and Abe Lucas are paying off, and Jalen Sundell is one more good season away from a contract extension. Tight ends like A.J. Barner and Eric Saubert, as well as receivers Cooper Kupp and Jake Bobo, also deserve credit for Seattle’s improved blocking.
And for what it’s worth, the Seahawks won three big games at the end of the season with Josh Jones at left tackle. No shocker if John Benton has to dip into his reserves this year and still be okay.
Brendan Schwartz: Just my homer opinion, but with the expectation that Rasheed, Horton🤞🏼Arroyo🤞🏼, Barnyard, and the backs looking ready to step up to a higher target share, how hard is it going to be to keep focus on the run game. So many mouths to feed! JSN may get less targets, but it may be better for the team to keep the defense guessing with so many options. I say we keep Coop fresh all year for the playoffs too.
The Seahawks will run the ball a lot. They ranked third in attempts last season. They plan to be a good team with the lead. They don’t care about fantasy teams or individual statistics. Jaxon Smith-Njgiba had great individual statistics because he’s too good to ignore, and he didn’t even have that many routes compared to other number one receivers.
I don’t know how much of a higher target share anyone’s going to get, but guys like Elijah Arroyo and Tory Horton must not repeat what they did last year and actually play 17 games before anyone’s worrying if the run game will take a backseat to the passing attack.
Seattle is a run-first offense. I doubt that will ever change.
It doesn’t have to mean they won’t have a passing offense that could rank first in efficiency and DVOA. I don’t think Macdonald or Brian Fleury are thinking in terms of how many targets or touches any individual player gets, but in calling plays based on the flow of the game.
Stats are just results of decisions. The decisions aren’t made based on feeding mouths, but on winning games. And winning teams run the ball.
Also, I think Cooper Kupp continues to play a lot. Despite not having the long-term value of other receivers (which won’t matter to Seattle this year) he’s still probably the best blocking receiver on the team and one of the most reliable options on third-down and in clutch situations.
I don’t think it’s being a homer or being overly optimistic. I think the Seahawks have a lot of talent at the skill positions. But they won’t let that change what got them to the Super Bowl last year.
I guess that’s kind of the trade-off with having great defense and special teams:
You don’t really want to wear out the passing offense when you’re always winning.