Graham Bensinger addresses Mike Macdonald controversy publicly

Dom Skene, Seahawks WireThu, September 24, 2026 at 6:30 PM UTC

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After NFL head coaches Mike Macdonald and Sean Payton moved on from a public relations controversy Wednesday afternoon, journalist Graham Bensinger published his first statement since the matter blew up this week.

Bensinger says he sent his entire interview with Macdonald (different from the current one uploaded to YouTube) to Seahawks public relations last Wednesday, Sept. 16, five days before publishing it to YouTube. The interviewer claims “no concern was raised” by the team until after he posted and the controversy arose. However, both the team and Macdonald have since said they believed the portion — which directly addresses a cheating allegation Payton levied against them — was off-the-record.

It’s impossible to describe this story to the public without it causing controversy. In the clip, Macdonald takes an earnest tone and clearly isn’t telling the story as anything but an interesting memory from his perspective. It’s hard to believe he would talk about it — let alone this way — if he thought the public would hear it. After the controversy, Bensinger took the clips and full-length interview down, and reuploaded the latter with the part in question removed.

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Macdonald did reach out to Bensinger to take the portion in question down. In his Wednesday press conference, the Seahawks’ head coach clarified that he misunderstood which parts of the interview would be shared for public consumption. The full-length version up now was only uploaded two days ago, after the original was taken down. There are also itemized clips of the interview all over the internet.

As a journalist, your number one job is to protect your sources. It’s on you to clarify and make sure they feel comfortable with what you publish. When you burn your trust with them, you aren’t as reliable of a source yourself.

Bensinger is expected to face an uphill battle toward future credentials in football. He compromised the credibility that he parlayed into a successful career in independent media. His identity as the interviewer whom the talent trusts to convey their story now mirrors that of a risky outsider. The league’s news cycle will move on quickly without him as Thursday Night Football kicks off a packed Week 3 slate. The Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos are both classy organizations whose head coaches showed as much with their handling of the situation.

This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Graham Bensinger addresses Mike Macdonald controversy publicly

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