Cris Collinsworth appears as a guest on 'The Dan Patrick Show.'
Credit: The Dan Patrick Show
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The debate over what is and is not on the record took center stage in the NFL world again thanks to a recent report on Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald.
Macdonald was sitting down for a conversation with reporter Graham Bensinger. In a video that appeared to be taken after the two parties were mic’d up but before the primary cameras for their conversation were rolling, Macdonald told a fascinating story about Broncos coach Sean Payton getting mad at him after the Seahawks used fan-taken footage of Broncos training camp to help scout the team ahead of their season opener in 2024.
It is an incredible bit of insight, and understandably quickly made the rounds on social media. In the days since its release, the video has stirred up the conversation of what constitutes something being on or off the record, as both Macdonald and the Seahawks have intimated that they believed that portion of the interview was “more off than on” the record.
For clarity, the rules of what is off and on the record are pretty clear and simple. Unless something is mutually agreed upon to be off the record before it’s stated, it’s on the record. That said, reporters working with insiders and building sourcing inside tightly guarded communities, be it the Pentagon or an NFL front office, obviously use their own discretion when deciding what to report, what to report on background, and what to leave for potential future use. While anything truly newsworthy should always come out, making a somewhat cheeky story like the one Macdonald shared publicly known when your interview subject did not want it publicly known is a great way to ensure you never land another interview.
Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth weighed in on the subject while appearing as a guest on The Dan Patrick Show.
“It’s such a dance,” Collinsworth said. “Occasionally a coach will say something’s off the record, but for the most part, I’ve been doing this for a while, and so has Mike [Tirico]. I think they have conversations with us, and they’ll let us know things in part because of our history of not, you know—if a coach says something nice about a player, I don’t feel guilty about saying we talked to the coach and he said something nice. But occasionally they’ll give us insights. They’ll give us insights into their team or insights into the other team, and you just kind of weave it in.”
Collinsworth acknowledged that when being invited in to such conversations, there was very little room for error in a reporter’s judgement.
“You want to develop that relationship of trust, but you have to hit 100% on that,” he explained. “If I burn one of these coaches or players who have told me something in confidence, and I twist it the wrong way, or I attribute it to them when they didn’t want it attributed to them, then it’s over. There’s no reason to even meet with that person in the future because the conversation’s going to go nowhere. It’s such an art form. It really is.”
Collinsworth also noted that sometimes coaches wanted to get what might read as sensitive information out in the open, but just didn’t want it traced back to them.
“The other thing that’s kind of interesting about it is, a lot of times they want to tell you something. They want something to get out. They just don’t want to be the one who says it. Is it ever a perfect 100%? No, but it has to be pretty darn close in order to maintain that level of trust with these guys.”
“It’s such a dance… occasionally, a coach will say something is off the record.” — @CollinsworthPFF on when something is off the record. pic.twitter.com/wJdddWEjkn
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 24, 2026
In a statement on Wednesday, Bensinger expressed regret regarding the conversation being included in the video, while also noting that no flags were raised regarding the inclusion of the conversation by the Seahawks until the moment started to go viral. Both Macdonald and Payton have also since addressed the video, and everyone seems to be in mostly good spirits about the situation.
Still, Week 6’s game between the two teams could be in for a bit of drama. Let’s make sure the cameras catch the postgame handshake.
Jan 8, 2026; Glendale, AZ, USA; Tim Tebow in attendance of the Mississippi Rebels against the Miami Hurricanes in the 2026 Fiesta Bowl and semifinal game of the College Football Playoff at State Farm Stadium.
Jan 8, 2026; Glendale, AZ, USA; Tim Tebow in attendance of the Mississippi Rebels against the Miami Hurricanes in the 2026 Fiesta Bowl and semifinal game of the College Football Playoff at State Farm Stadium.