Sean Payton says he had ‘good conversation’ with Mike Macdonald, ‘ton of respect’

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton probably didn’t expect Seattle Seahawks drama entering Week 3, but here we are.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald made some comments about looking at Broncos plays from 2024 training camp that he intended to be off the record. Unfortunately for Macdonald, those words became public in a conversation he had with Graham Bensinger.

Macdonald told Bensinger he took “100 plays” from Broncos camp before the two teams squared off in Week 1 of that season.

The Seahawks head coach has since apologized for everything that went down, and on Wednesday Sean Payton addressed it for the first time. He says he and Macdonald are on fine terms.

“We spoke. Listen, he and I are good. Lord knows, I’ve been in his position where you’re talking about something and… the story is three years ago,” Payton said. “I’m sure my initial call to John (Schneider) wasn’t pleasant, but I would say this. Talking with him it allowed us to figure out how to handle our training camp relative to just videos. And I don’t think anything was intentional by fans.”

The Broncos have since put up signs saying “protect our plays” and don’t allow fans to film at training camp.

“We did some research online of what was available and that’s kind of how we changed our policy. I’ve known John for 20 years, so it was an easy call to him and yeah that’s really it,” Sean Payton said.

Payton initially reached out to the Seahawks GM Schneider because he knew him better than Macdonald. But Seattle’s head coach delivered an apology to Payton on Tuesday evening and he accepted it.

“The conversation last night was good. I have a ton of respect for him and that’s it,” Payton said.

Sean Payton was asked a follow up about whether or not he was worried about a Seattle spy at Broncos practice and he admitted he probably came in hot in his initial chat with Schneider.

“I didn’t know, so obviously I called shooting before I started looking. And I can only do that with John, because again he’s someone I’ll have a beer with at the combine. I consider him a good friend,” Payton said.

At this point the story seems to be water under the bridge. It did happen all the way back in 2024, but it’s only become public now.

That said, the Broncos and Seahawks have a huge game looming in Week 6, so we’ll see if it pops up again.

But Macdonald has apologized and Sean Payton has accepted it, so it appears to be back to football as usual.

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