Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald makes changes to how captains will be selected this season

New Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is going to do things drastically different from previous head coach Pete Carroll. Sweeping changes are inevitable when a leader replaces the previous one that was in power for 14 seasons, which equals a lifetime in NFL coaching years. Macdonald announced a major procedural change following Thursday’s practice session.

The Seahawks will alter team captains on a game-by-game basis this season. Seattle had season-long captains under Carroll last year. It was Geno Smith and Tyler Lockett on offense, Bobby Wagner and Quandre Diggs on defense, and Nick Bellore and Jason Myers on special teams. Several of those players are no longer on the team, including Wagner and Diggs, but that isn’t believed to have impacted Macdonald’s decision to name weekly leaders.

“We’ll do game captains week by week,” Macdonald responded when asked about his plans. “You’ll see a bunch of different guys, just like we did in the preseason,” Macdonald concluded.

This is extremely unique and should be a popular decision within the locker room. It allows players to serve as captains for games they’ve circled on the schedule, particularly ones in their hometown or versus their old organizations. For example, you can anticipate outside linebacker Dre’Mont Jones and tight end Noah Fant being captains against their former Denver Broncos team in Week 1.

When the Seahawks play the New York Jets in Week 13, Geno Smith will probably be a captain. Other potential opportunities include Jerome Baker versus the Miami Dolphins in Week 3, and Julian Love and Leonard Williams versus the New York Giants in Week 5.

Macdonald is bringing fresh ideas to the franchise, and that doesn’t even take into account how drastically different they’ll look on the field this season.