Seahawks used Broncos fans to spy on Payton’s playbook in 2024

Bo Nix’s rough rookie debut for the Denver Broncos in Seattle might have an explanation — the now super bowl winning head coach of the Seahawks has admitted to taking “100 plays” from fans’ training camp videos and using them to scout the orange and blue ahead of that Week 1 game in 2024. The admission came in a an interview with Graham Bensinger, where Mike Macdonald said Sean Payton went after the coach and the two sides played a game of chicken on going public.

Macdonald shared that Payon isn’t the biggest fan of the Seahawks coach because his team took the plays posted on Twitter, public knowledge he says, to scout the Broncos. The Seahawks won that game 26-20.

Payton found out about it a few weeks later, according to Macdonald. The Broncos head coach called Seahawks GM John Schneider and threatened to come out publicly accusing the Seahawks of a Spygate or Michigan situation and the Seahawks went back threatening to sue. Macdonald said he didn’t spy, he just used fan footage. Eventually Payton let it go but Macdonald said it was like a cold war.

At the NFL Scouting combine in Indianapolis the two ran into each other and it seems like the issue was dropped, Macdonald said.

#Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald says #Broncos HC Sean Payton threatened to accuse Seattle of a Spygate-style cheating scandal in 2024.

Macdonald says they found training camp clips on X and used them to their advantage when they played.

(📽️ @GrahamBensinger)pic.twitter.com/xzRv3J6xh2

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 22, 2026

Both teams finished 10-7 in 2024, with the Broncos making the playoff and Seahawks missing.

At 2026 training camp the Broncos had signs up to their fans to not record the action, saying “protect our plays.” So yes, you the fan in Broncos Country going to camp practice can help or hurt the Broncos competitively.

The Broncos meet the Seahawks again in a few weeks, on Thursday night football next month.

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