Why Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald stopped team's latest OTAs practice

The Seattle Seahawks had a famously-feisty roster during the Pete Carroll years, especially early on in the Legion of Boom era when fights at practice were common. It's going to be tough for any NFL to match that group's intensity, but these current Seahawks are pretty lively, themselves.

Last year at training camp things exploded at one practice when no less than five fights broke out, including a climactic swing of the helmet by DK Metcalf directed at Tre Brown, both of whom are now out of the picture. While it wasn't anything that bad, head coach Mike Macdonald did feel the need to stop the team's latest OTA practice because it was getting too physical, according to Gregg Bell at the Tacoma News Tribune.

"Mike Macdonald was ticked. His Seahawks were too intense in this fifth, no-pads, no-contact practice of organized team activities (OTAs). The NFL’s youngest head coach stopped the scrimmage. He scolded both the offense and defense to stay in learning mode, rather than intensely competing. The time for competing will come, beginning late next month when training camp begins."

It's not necessarily a bad thing when the competition at practice gets chippy. However, coaches to have to be careful not to allow things to go over the line - especialy at this early point in the offseason when there are no pads involved and there's supposed to be minimal contact.

Head coaches who do allow the play to get too physical may be fined or docked a future practice by the league office. For example, Pete Carroll's 2015 Seahawks team had to give up two days of minicamp as a result of some 2014 practices getting too scrappy.

Speaking of minicamp, Macdonald has apparently moved up the schedule for this year's minicamp - it will now run next week from June 10-12.