Biggest Goals for Every New NFL Head Coach as Offseason Programs Get Underway

The Seattle Seahawks hired Mike Macdonald as their new head coach after he spent the past two seasons as the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator. Seattle undoubtedly hopes that Macdonald will help establish the sort of consistency Baltimore has long enjoyed under head coach John Harbaugh.

Macdonald’s primary challenge at the outset of his tenure will be improving a defense that ranked 30th overall and 25th in points allowed last season.

The Seahawks have plenty of offensive pieces in place, including quarterback Geno Smith, running back Kenneth Walker III, tight end Noah Fant and receivers DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. New offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, whom Seattle hired from the University of Washington, will be tasked with managing that group.

Meanwhile, Macdonald will be asked to turn around the defense, which he quickly did in Baltimore.

In 2021, the year before Macdonald took over, the Ravens ranked 25th in total defense and 19th in points allowed. In 2022, Baltimore ranked ninth in total defense and third in points allowed. Last year, it ranked sixth in total defense and first in points allowed.

If Macdonald hopes to produce similar improvement in Seattle, he needs to figure out where his team’s strengths reside and how he can best take advantage of them.

“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,” Macdonald said in February, per John Boyle of the team’s official website.

Now’s the time for Macdonald to become familiar with his players and to start figuring out what kind of defense he can build in 2024.