Seahawks' Mike Macdonald Gets Slap in the Face in NFL Head Coach Rankings

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is coming off just his second season on the job and he's already led the franchise to a Super Bowl title.

NBC Sports analyst Patrick Daugherty conducted his annual head coach rankings and placed Macdonald at No. 4 behind Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers, Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs and Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams.

"The word “genius” is thrown around loosely these days, but Macdonald certainly appears to be one when it comes to confounding opposing play-callers and quarterbacks," Daugherty wrote.

"His judgment is almost as good on offense, where his decisions to start Sam Darnold, hire Klint Kubiak and feature Jaxon Smith-Njigba made the group formidable enough to win a championship without a true franchise player. That’s not easy in any era, but particularly now. Macdonald’s sample size is small, but if you’ve won a Super Bowl with Darnold before the age of 40, you are probably one of the five best active NFL coaches."

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Macdonald Too Low in Head Coach Rankings

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald is interviewed on the NFL Network. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Seahawks are coming off a title, which puts them at the top until proven otherwise. The same should be said for these head coach rankings.

In just his second year, Macdonald, 38, took a team that wasn't expected to make the playoffs into a Super Bowl powerhouse. The franchise set a record in wins for a season with 14 and was the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

The defense was stellar, finishing as the No. 1 scoring defense. He was able to take what worked and didn't work in the Pete Carroll era and marry the two styles, forming a team that can compete for a title for the next several years.

Reid, McVay, Shanahan Rank Higher Than Macdonald

Daugherty's rankings have Reid, McVay and Shanahan ahead of Macdonald. Reid and McVay have Super Bowl rings like Macdonald, but Shanahan doesn't. Shanahan has a longer track record of success, but Macdonald's shorter Super Bowl resume should exceed his accolades.

Daugherty’s rationale for Shanahan at No. 3 is based on how much he achieved with an injured roster. However, Macdonald had extremely low expectations with the roster given to him and overachieved.

Coach	Rank	Key Reason
Andy Reid	1	3-time Super Bowl champ
Sean McVay	2	NFC Finalist, consistent excellence
Kyle Shanahan	3	Maximizing talent despite injuries

Our Take: Macdonald Should Be No. 1

Based on how the Seahawks performed this season, Macdonald should be No. 1 on this list.

Macdonald beat both McVay and Shanahan in the regular season and playoffs en route to the Super Bowl with a quarterback in Sam Darnold, who had zero postseason success prior to arriving in Seattle. He also helped turn Jaxon Smith-Njigba into the receiving yards leader of the NFL.

The Seahawks were elite on both sides of the ball and Macdonald deserves a lot of credit for that.

Macdonald likely isn't in the top spot because the other coaches have more experience, but if this is how his coaching tenure has started, it won't be long until he is viewed as the league's best.

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