Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald turns eyes on offense after years as defensive coach

RENTON, Wash. – Until now, when Mike Macdonald assessed a practice afterward, he judged it mostly by how well the defense played.

But in his new role as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, as opposed to being the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens the past two years, Macdonald can now also be happy when the offense does well.

Or, as was the case Saturday in the second of two rookie minicamp practices at the VMAC, when it at least plays quite a bit better.

The first practice Friday was marked by some offensive sloppiness and overall inability to make many plays in 11-on-11 sessions, due in part to the challenge of players arriving the day before and having to quickly learn some plays.

“You only have so much time to install things,’’ Macdonald said.

So, some leeway for the offense is always given in rookie minicamp.

Still, Macdonald laid down a little of a challenge to the offense before practice Saturday to clean things up.

“He said the biggest thing the defense was doing better than us was communicating,’’ said guard Sataoa Laumea, a sixth-round choice out of Utah. “So that was a big emphasis for today.’’

The message appeared to get through as the offense performed more smoothly throughout.

That was illustrated by a few highlight plays in the passing game, notably a long completion on a go route from undrafted rookie, free-agent quarterback Chevan Cordeiro of San Jose State to fellow rookie UDFA receiver Hayden Hatten of Idaho, and a connection on a pass over the middle from tryout quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa to tryout receiver Jesiah Irish, of Oregon State and Mount Si, who leapt to get the ball in traffic.

Cordeiro also later hit tight end Jack Westover, a UDFA from Washington and Mount Si, on a short pass that Westover had to dive to get.

“It was good to see them complete some balls today,’’ Macdonald said. “I was a little upset we didn’t take the ball away more on defense … I thought they threw the ball well. Being able to operate the offense with the cadences – we weren’t just snapping on one every time – so operation was solid, and I thought we handled the ball well for sure.”

The offensive line also seemed to play more in sync.

“All the little shifts and motions, we are all on the same page I feel,’’ Sataoa said. “So that was definitely better than yesterday.’’

And while there were almost 30 tryout players present, most of whom are unlikely to be back, one common starting offensive line in camp featured five rookies all on the 90-man roster – Sataoa, who usually played left guard; third-round choice Christian Haynes, who typically lined up at right guard; sixth-round pick Michael Jerrell, who mostly played right tackle but who also saw some time at guard; center Mike Novitsky, a UDFA signee from Kansas; and UDFA signee Garret Greenfield of South Dakota State at left tackle.

That there are no pads and no contact in these sessions makes assessing how lines play largely about things such as communication and handling assignments correctly.

“It’s just cool to get to know them a little bit,’’ Macdonald said. “There’s some things that we’re going to be working on for those guys. But just like with everybody on the team, we’re kind of chasing those details.”