Mike Macdonald thought he was speaking privately when he discussed an old dispute with Sean Payton. Instead, comments from the Seattle Seahawks coach surfaced publicly on Tuesday, forcing him to address the situation and apologize to his Denver Broncos counterpart.

The comments came from a conversation with Graham Bensinger before Macdonald’s nearly two-hour interview. And the entire segment does not include the part where Macdonald shared the “funny story” about Payton. Macdonald believed the portion involving Payton was off the record, but the story eventually became public after a clip from the podcast circulated on X.

On Wednesday, Macdonald confirmed that he contacted Payton to apologize.

“It’s something I didn’t intend for public use,” Macdonald said, as reported by Zac Stevens of the Denver Broncos on X. “But I felt like it was the most appropriate thing to reach out to Sean and really just apologize to him for having that end up be public, where it wasn’t meant to.”

“It’s a lesson learned, honestly,” he said. “I’m responsible for what I say no matter the circumstance…I fell short in that moment. It stings for me, frankly, but it’s something that I’m definitely going to learn from. It’s a good example that we got to take responsibility for the things that we say.”

The underlying story dates back to the 2024 season, when the Seahawks faced the Broncos in Macdonald’s first game as Seattle’s head coach. The Seahawks won 26-20, holding Denver to 231 total yards in rookie quarterback Bo Nix’s NFL debut.

According to Macdonald, Seattle’s staff had collected roughly 100 plays from Broncos training camp that fans had recorded and posted on social media. Because the footage was publicly available, the Seahawks used it as part of their preparation for the season opener.

Payton reportedly learned about the practice footage later that season and confronted Seahawks general manager John Schneider. Macdonald said Payton believed Seattle had gone beyond simply studying publicly available footage and referenced the New England Patriots’ Spygate scandal and the sign-stealing controversy at Michigan.

Macdonald, who was Michigan’s defensive coordinator in 2021, said the Broncos coach believed Seattle could have had someone planted in the stands to record practices.

“So, fans watch, and fans will tape or post plays from training camp on Twitter. And so it’s public. So we took like a hundred plays from their training camp…he called Johnny, basically, threatened to come out publicly and do a whole Patriot, like, spygate type of thing,” Macdonald previously said. “I’m sitting like, oh my god, we didn’t cheat.”

The issue eventually disappeared without either side making the dispute public at the time. Macdonald later described the situation as a “Cold War,” with both sides threatening to escalate but ultimately choosing not to do so.

Macdonald Says Payton Handled the Apology Well

Macdonald said he and Payton crossed paths at the NFL Scouting Combine after the season without revisiting the dispute. The Seahawks coach said Payton’s response to his apology was positive.

“I respect the heck out of him and his program, always have. He’s a phenomenal football coach; it’s been great to get to know him at the owners’ meetings over the last couple of years,” Macdonald said. “He was awesome. I know we’re both looking forward to moving forward from it. I really appreciate how he handled it.”

Macdonald also said he respects Payton and declined to speculate about how the private conversation ultimately became public. He called that part of the situation “not important.”

The two coaches will have another opportunity to meet when Seattle travels to Denver in Week 6. For now, Macdonald has made clear where he stands on the part of the situation that he controls: he wishes the private comments had stayed private and has taken responsibility for them becoming public.