Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald was named the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks on Jan. 31. The hire was first reported by ESPN and NFL Network and became official later in the day.
The Ravens have not made any public comment on the hiring, though head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Eric DeCosta are scheduled to hold their season-ending news conference at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills on Friday, Feb. 2.
Asked this week about the possibility of Macdonald becoming a head coach, linebacker Patrick Queen had said, “I think he’s the best candidate out there right now. I don’t think anybody does it like him. Nobody cares like him. Nobody will do what he does. He will not rest until he has everything right. … The guy is all-around just the best person I’ve ever been around.”
Macdonald, 36, became one of the hottest names in this year’s coaching cycle after molding the Ravens’ defense into a historically strong unit.
This year, the Ravens became the first team in NFL history to lead the league in sacks (60), turnovers (31) and scoring defense, allowing a season-low 16.5 points per game.
Macdonald’s defense continued that strong showing in the postseason, allowing zero second-half points in two playoff games. But the Ravens’ offense stumbled with three turnovers in the AFC championship game against Kansas City and the Ravens’ season ended in a 17-10 loss.
Macdonald was sought preliminarily by a half-dozen teams looking for new coaches. He conducted virtual interviews with those teams while the Ravens were preparing for playoff games, and then he held in-person interviews this week with both the Seahawks and Washington Commanders, the last two teams that had not filled their coaching vacancies.
Macdonald, a graduate of the University of Georgia business school, was set to begin a career in the finance industry when Harbaugh tapped him for the team’s new coaching internship program in 2014.
Macdonald spent seven seasons with the Ravens, rising up through the ranks to become the team’s linebackers coach from 2108-2020. He then was hired by Jim Harbaugh as defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan.
The Wolverines that year ranked No. 8 in scoring defense and won their first Big Ten title since 2004. Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson was a First-Team All-America selection and Heisman Trophy finalist who became the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. That team also included current Ravens linebacker David Ojabo, who blossomed under Macdonald with 11 sacks in 2021.
When the Ravens parted ways with former coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale after the 2021 season, John Harbaugh turned to Macdonald, who now boasted defensive coordinator experience from his time at Michigan.
In Macdonald’s first season as coordinator, the Ravens’ defense ranked No. 9 overall and No. 3 against the run. The Ravens ranked in the top five in several other categories, and grew stronger after the midseason trade for linebacker Roquan Smith.
This year, the Ravens ranked No. 6 overall, allowing 301.4 yards a game. Macdonald’s team was consistently stingy, holding nine opponents to one or no touchdowns.
The Ravens’ defense played some of its best games against some of the best teams. They held the NFC Central champion Lions to six points and dominated the Super Bowl-bound 49ers in San Francisco. The Ravens intercepted 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy four times and cruised to a 33-19 win.
Macdonald is known as a brilliant strategist who creates well-disguised schemes, and Smith last week called him “a mad scientist in a sense.” The Ravens’ 60 sacks came from 16 different players. Defensive lineman Justin Madubuike led the way with 13, but the Ravens’ pressure also came from slot defenders, from the usual edge rushers and from blitzing linebackers up the middle.
Macdonald’s departure figures to be the first major move in what could be offseason upheaval for the Ravens’ defense, and it comes a day after director of player personnel Joe Hortiz was hired as general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers.
After the Ravens’ dominant season defensively, several assistant coaches are being sought for interviews for coordinator positions elsewhere, and the team has more than a dozen pending free agents on defense.
Defensive line coach Anthony Weaver, defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, pass game coordinator/secondary coach Chris Hewitt and inside linebackers coach Zach Orr all have been requested for interviews for coordinator positions elsewhere. Weaver also has been in the running for the still unfilled head coaching job with the Commanders.
Those coaches, though, all could be in the mix with the Ravens now if they choose to fill the defensive coordinator position from within, which has been Harbaugh’s past preference. But Macdonald now also has a staff to hire, and some Ravens assistants might follow him to Seattle.
The Ravens lengthy list of pending free agents includes Madubuike; linebackers Patrick Queen, Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy; cornerbacks Ronald Darby and Arthur Maulet and safety Geno Stone.
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