Macdonald says Broncos' Payton accused Seahawks of cheating in 2024

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  Brady HendersonSep 22, 2026, 03:57 PM ET

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  Brady Henderson is a reporter for NFL Nation and covers the Seattle Seahawks for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2017 after covering the team for Seattle Sports 710-AM.

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald says the Denver Broncos wrongfully accused Seattle of a SpyGate-like cheating scandal in 2024.

Broncos coach Sean Payton ultimately backed off after the Seahawks threatened a lawsuit if Denver went public with the allegation, according to Macdonald.

The saga came to light in a clip that surfaced Tuesday from Macdonald's recently-published appearance on "In Depth With Graham Bensinger."

The Seahawks and Broncos opened the 2024 season at Lumen Field in Macdonald's first game as Seattle's coach. Seattle won 26-20, holding Denver to 231 total yards in quarterback Bo Nix's NFL debut.

"Fans will post plays from training camp on Twitter, so it's like public knowledge," Macdonald told Bensinger. "We took like 100 plays from their training camp. We were scouting them."

Payton later learned that the Seahawks had seen some of Denver's plays, called Seahawks general manager John Schneider and "lost it," according to Macdonald.

"He got wind of it and he lost it," Macdonald said of Payton. "This is the middle of the season, and we won the game. We were in the fight our first year. There was a lot of s--- going on. So he called John. He basically threatened to come out publicly and do a whole Patriot SpyGate type of thing.

"I'm sitting there like, 'Oh my god. We didn't cheat.' They thought it was a Michigan thing where we had a plant and the whole thing. So we had to counter with him and say, 'If you come out with this, we're going to sue you because it's not true.'"

Macdonald said Payton ultimately "backed down."

"The season ends and he let it go," Macdonald said. "But it was like the Cold War. He's like, 'I'm going to hit the button. I'm going to hit the button.' 'Well we're going to hit the button.' None of us hit the button."

Macdonald said he and Payton ran into each other at the combine after the season, and nothing came of it.

Under Macdonald, the Seahawks have been among the teams that do not allow fans to film plays during training camp practices.