Mike Macdonald, Seahawks Digging Deep to Prepare For Untested Vikings QB Max Brosmer
RENTON, Wash. - Studying and game planning for multiple quarterbacks during the same week isn’t a new phenomenon for Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, who has had his share of experiences prepping for numerous signal callers dating back to his time as a defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens.
Most recently in Week 9, as just one example coming out of a bye week, the Seahawks weren’t 100% sure whether the Commanders would have starting quarterback Jayden Daniels back in the lineup or turn to Marcus Mariota for another spot start. Ultimately, Daniels ended up starting that contest, but Macdonald had his team ready for both possibilities with plenty of film to detail on both players.
Coming up on Sunday afternoon, Seattle will have a different test when Minnesota flies into town with undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer set to make his first career start in place of J.J. McCarthy, who the team ruled out on Friday with a concussion. While most would view game planning for an undrafted rookie as a major advantage in terms of talent and inexperience, there isn’t much film for the staff to lean on, as the first-year signal caller out of Minnesota has thrown a grand total of eight regular season passes.
“You want to understand how they try to operate,” Macdonald said on Wednesday, when McCarthy’s status remained uncertain. “Like, and J.J. might still play, so we have to be ready for him as well. But you're going to watch preseason tape, watch some of their college stuff, talk to our scouts, things like that, guys that have watched him coming out and followed his path. But do the best you can, really, with the tape you have of what's out there. He played pretty extensively in preseason, so that's pretty good tape to have.”
Dating back to his first season as coordinator in Baltimore, Macdonald has been incredibly successful against rookie quarterbacks, posting a 7-1 record against first-year players who start against his team during that span. This most recently includes a 30-24 win for the Seahawks over the Titans in Week 12, which may have been the best performance by a rookie quarterback versus his defense with Cam Ward throwing for more than 250 yards and scoring two touchdowns with no turnovers.
Prior to Ward, however, as to be expected, rookie signal callers struggled mightily against Macdonald’s defenses. In 2022, the Ravens knocked then-Steelers rookie Kenny Pickett out of the game early in the first meeting between the teams, leading to an easy win. The rematch later in the year actually went in Pittsburgh’s favor with the rookie throwing a touchdown with no turnovers in a low-scoring 16-13 affair. Sandwiched between that, Falcons rookie Desmond Ridder had no answers for Macdonald either, throwing for 218 yards with a lost fumble in a 17-9 loss.
Then in 2023, Macdonald’s No. 1 ranked Baltimore defense made life living hell for top-three pick C.J. Stroud in his NFL debut, allowing no touchdowns while recovering a fumble on a strip sack in a 25-9 victory. The Texans gunslinger didn’t fare much better in a 34-10 loss in the Wild Card round, throwing for just 175 yards in that contest.
Taking over as Pete Carroll’s replacement in Seattle, Macdonald drew an incoming rookie right out of the gate again in 2024, this time terrorizing an unprepared Bo Nix as the ex-Oregon standout threw for just 138 yards and two interceptions. In December, No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams went ice cold against the Seahawks in Chicago, throwing for 160 yards, no touchdowns, and losing two fumbles in a 6-3 defensive slugfest that Seattle narrowly escaped with the victory.
In the case of Stroud and Nix, neither player had started an NFL game when they kicked off their respective seasons against Macdonald, so it’s not as if the coach doesn’t have any experience prepping for a rookie who has little to no regular season game film in the league.
But Brosmer will be an even bigger oddity in the sense that he wasn’t a highly touted prospect at New Hampshire or Minnesota like the two aforementioned quarterbacks were as eventual first round picks, playing at the FCS level less than two years ago before transferring and stepping up his game to Big Ten competition with 18 touchdowns and six interceptions for the Golden Gophers. This has produced a situation where Seattle’s staff had to get creative uncovering more information on the rookie quarterback this week, adding a unique flair to planning behind the scenes.
As Macdonald indicated, regional scouts likely were on speed dial this week as bigger resources than usual with the Seahawks trying to figure out as much as they could about the little-known Brosmer, combining that insight with his college and preseason film as well as prior knowledge of coach Kevin O’Connell’s offense. Heck, the coach himself could reach out to his alma mater for high school tape, as both he and Brosmer graduated from Centennial High School in Georgia.
“It's funny, small world, huh? Kind of crazy,” Macdonald said. “It's weird that you went to the same school but the separation -- like I feel like I'm young. I feel like I'm 25 years old. Now here he comes, I don't know what year he graduated, but kind of cool.”
In the past, Macdonald has been able to manufacture significant pressure on rookie quarterbacks facing his defense for the first time, which has been a key aspect in posting a win percentage close to 90%. Two years ago, the Ravens racked up a ridiculous 30 quarterback pressures and five sacks on Stroud in his NFL debut, while the Seahawks tallied 29 pressures and two sacks on Nix in the opener a year ago. Even last week, Ward took four sacks on 42 pressures, dealing with relentless heat all afternoon long.
With Seattle’s defense set to be closer to full strength following the return of linebacker Ernest Jones and a defensive front boasting talents such as Leonard Williams, Demarcus Lawrence, and Byron Murphy II among others, Macdonald obviously will look to replicate that approach once again against Brosmer with a ferocious four-man rush. Blitzes should be on the menu as well with him having standout defenders such as Jones, Devon Witherspoon, and Nick Emmanwori more than capable of rocketing into the backfield for immediate pressures to speed up the clock on the rookie quarterback.
Considering so many unknowns regarding Brosmer, it will be fascinating to see how Macdonald approaches things out of the gate on Sunday from a game planning standpoint. Will he do as he has done most of the year and rely heavily on Williams and the Seahawks’ defensive line to do much of the lifting pressuring the quarterback? Or will he unleash the hounds from the back end to keep the rookie on his toes and aim to force him into early turnovers?
Either way, expect plenty of pre-snap disguising to try and confuse Brosmer, who hasn’t had many meaningful snaps against NFL regular season defenses. Much like a season opener, depending how initial results go, Macdonald and his staff can then take that information and make shifts to Seattle’s defensive approach if necessary, making this a game where adjustments and adaptation in tactics from both sides will bear watching.
