Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald announces plan for preseason lineup vs. Raiders

The Seattle Seahawks will finally take the field this week for the first time since January. Thursday night's home game against the Las Vegas Raiders promises to be quite an atmosphere, as former head coach Pete Carroll makes his return to Lumen Field for the first time since he was fired in favor of Mike Macdonald.

While there are huge differences between their coaching styles, it seems there's at least one philosophy that Macdonald shares with his predecessor. Carroll never liked to play his starters during the preseason and it sounds like Macdonald doesn't either. Following last night's annual Fan Fest scrimmage Macdonald told reporters that he won't be playing his starters against the Raiders.

Mike Macdonald won't play starters

Coach Mike Macdonald says tonight what was becoming obvious: #Seahawks starters won’t play in the preseason opener against Pete Carroll’s Raiders Thursday here at Lumen Field.@thenewstribune pic.twitter.com/RJdlnPRR81
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) August 3, 2025

This is the right call, even if there are some arguments in favor of getting key players preseason reps - the Carolina Panthers and Bryce Young certainly learned that the hard way last year.

While the Seahawks are a relatively young team (and stacked with under-25 talent) their real core pieces are all seasoned veterans with at least a few years of experience. In that case, it makes more sense to rest them during the preseason and not risk injury in a meaningless game.

If that lesson needed to be reinforced, the Seahawks got the best possible example during a preseason matchup with the Raiders a few years ago. Then backing up Russell Wilson, Geno Smith got blasted from the blindisde on his first dropbck and had to leave the game with a concussion.

Sam Darnold may need to get in sync with his new receivers, but that process is going to take more time no matter how he performs during the regular season. He's too important to risk getting hurt at this juncture.

Speaking of Darnold - if the Seahawks defense is as good as we expect it to be he'll likely be the real x-factor determining if they finish with another nine or 10-win season or if they make a real playoff push for the first time since 2015.

If Darnold can pick up where he left off in Minnesota last year and his offensive line doesn't completely fail him, Seattle is going to be a dangerous, dangerous team.

So, on Thursday night we should expect to see a lot of primary backup Drew Lock and hopefully a lot more of rookie QB Jalen Milroe.

Mike Macdonald won't play starters

More Seahawks on SI stories