It’s not just Mike Macdonald. ‘Every team’ scours social media to find opponent tells

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald revealed that his team monitored fan videos on social media to scout the Denver Broncos ahead of the 2024 season opener. Macdonald noted the Seahawks watched roughly 100 plays of Denver's training camp before winning the matchup 26-20. Broncos head coach Sean Payton initially objected to the tactic and threatened to contact the NFL before confirming the two coaches are now on good terms.

NFL coaches and executives stated that searching social media for opponent intel is a common and legal practice across the league. Payton explained that the incident prompted the Broncos to revise their training camp video policies after realizing what fans were posting online. League personnel noted that while most fan footage is low quality, a small percentage provides valuable details on personnel groupings.