INDIANAPOLIS — Two-and-a-half weeks after leading the Seahawks to their second Super Bowl title, coach Mike Macdonald said he has yet to watch a replay of the game.
During a session with media Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine, Macdonald said he had no real reason other than laughing and saying because “I’m a psycho.”
When might he?
“I don’t know,” he said. “Going to Hawaiʻi next week, so I ain’t watching it there, either.”
One reason to have not watched it, of course, is that there is no next game to prepare for at the moment.
Another, he said, is simply feeling he needs to let some time pass and “maybe gotta let it cool down.”
Related More Seahawks
When he does watch it, he says he’ll do something he never does — watch the TV copy.
“I want to watch the commercials,” Macdonald said.
All of that is in keeping with what Macdonald said was one of his messages to the players on the way out — to make sure to get some down time before the grind of another season picks up sooner than they are used to, given that the Seahawks played the longest season in franchise history with 20 games, including 17 in the regular season and three in the playoffs.
“It’s definitely important to get away and get refreshed,” Macdonald said.
Not that there is much time for the coaches.
Macdonald and his staff are spending this week at the combine. While the coaches of some teams — such as the Rams and Jaguars — are not attending, feeling their time is better served at home, Macdonald said he likes his coaches to meet with potential draft picks during individual and informal meetings for what he says is one more date point to use in making decisions when the draft rolls around April 23-25.
First will be navigating the free agent signing period, which begins with the two-day negotiating period March 9.
While Macdonald will be in Hawaiʻi next week, he said it’ll be somewhat of a working vacation.
“I’m probably going to have to work while I’m there,” he said. “So don’t tell Steph (his wife, Stephanie).’’
Here are four other things we learned from Macdonald Wednesday:
Coaching staff is essentially set
While the Seahawks have yet to publicly announce their full coaching staff for 2026, Macdonald confirmed there are no more changes expected in terms of departures or arrivals.
Macdonald said all that needs to be done now to make the staff official is “finalize titles and roles and all that type of stuff.”
The most notable hire has been announced, that of offensive coordinator Brian Fleury to replace the departed Klint Kubiak. Exact titles and roles for a few other newcomers — including Daniel Stern, an assistant alongside Macdonald with the Ravens for seven years and who last season was the director of football strategy and assistant QB coach for Baltimore — are still being worked out.
Macdonald hasn’t heard Lawrence could retire
A report from Brady Henderson of ESPN this week stated that there is a “very real question” whether 33-year old defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence will return for another season.
Lawrence has two years remaining on his contract and had $5 million of his base salary for 2026 become guaranteed earlier this month, according to OvertheCap.com. But Henderson reported Lawrence retiring “could be a possibility” now that he has won a Super Bowl ring and completed his 12th NFL season
Macdonald said he has not had any discussions with Lawrence about retirement but noted that older players often have to consider their futures during the offseason.
“He’s one of those guys, I mean, anytime you’re in double-digit years, it’s one of those things you have to kind of factor in,” Macdonald said.
But Macdonald said Lawrence “hasn’t indicated anything to us that he’s not coming back.”
Macdonald said 33-year-old defensive tackle Jarran Reed has not said anything to the team that would indicate that he won’t be back in 2026. Reed has two years remaining on his contract and had $2 million in base salary for 2026 become guaranteed earlier this month, according to OvertheCap.com.
Macdonald said no player who might retire has told the team that they are not coming back in 2026 while adding, “Those things can change.”
No timeline yet for Charbonnet return
Running back Zach Charbonnet had surgery last week to repair an ACL injury suffered on Jan. 18 in the divisional playoff game against the 49ers.
Macdonald said the wait for the surgery was because “they had to let it calm down.”
Such an injury often requires a 9-10-month recovery, which could mean it would be midseason or so before Charbonnet could return.
Macdonald said the team has no firm estimate on when Charbonnet could be back but added that “it’s more optimistic than it was initially” for being able to “come back at an earlier time.”
Macdonald said Charbonnet won’t be doing anything during the offseason program other than rehab work.
No tipping hand on free agents
The team has some notable players who can become unrestricted free agents next month, including Super Bowl MVP running back Kenneth Walker III, safety Coby Bryant, cornerbacks Josh Jobe and Riq Woolen, rush end Boye Mafe and receiver Rashid Shaheed.
Like general manager John Schneider the day before, Macdonald did not give many hints about what the team will do, while reiterating that the team is doing a lot of fact-gathering here this week in meeting with agents to start getting a sense of what players may be asking for in a new contract and what they might command on the open market.
Asked specifically about retaining the three defensive backs who can be free agents and keeping the secondary together, Macdonald said that’s the goal and that he thinks it’s feasible.
“There’s things that you’re gonna have to work through, but I think it’s possible,” he said.
Macdonald leaves the heavy lifting of the negotiations to Schneider and his team.
He said he considers himself “a partner” in terms of the plan of attack.
“You know, give you my opinion every once in a while,” he said. “But I think it’s kind of like we see it the same way. Sometimes we don’t, and we’ll scrimmage some things out. But how it kind of comes across in like real time, that’s when we have those conversations, that those things happen.”
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.