PALM BEACH, Fla.—Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald sat down with the media on Tuesday morning at the NFL Annual meeting, a discussion that included his high expectations for his team, as well as how having been through his first season as a head coach will help him be better in Year 2.

In addition to those topics, here are six more things we learned from Macdonald on Tuesday.

1. More joint practices could be in the Seahawks' future.

The Seahawks spent several days in Nashville last summer to take part in joint practices with the Titans ahead of their preseason game. Macdonald liked what the team got out of that, both from a team-bonding standpoint and also in the practices with the Titans, which gave the two teams a chance to get in quality work against an opponent with a bit more control than a game affords, and without live tackling.

And because that went well, Macdonald hopes to not just repeat what they did last year, but add to it with a second week of joint practices. The schedule and preseason opponents won't be known until later this spring, but the Seahawks do know that they'll play two home preseason games and one on the road, and Macdonald said Tuesday that his hope is to host a team for joint practices ahead of one of those home games, then do another extended road trip for their one road preseason game.

2. Offseason trades were "the best decision for us."

The Seahawks went into the offseason thinking they would have Geno Smith as their quarterback and DK Metcalf as one of their top receivers, but that changed when, in the days leading up to the start of the new league year, Metcalf requested a trade, and the Seahawks later made the decision to trade Smith when they realized they and Smith were too far apart on a contract extension and, as general manager and president of football operations John Schneider put it, "it became apparent that we weren't going to be able to get a deal done."

Moving on from a pair of Pro-Bowl players wasn't a decision the Seahawks took lightly, but they are moves that, as Macdonald noted on Tuesday, were what was best for the team going forward, particularly because by making those trades when they did before the start of free agency, they were able to quickly pivot and sign Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp.

"It wasn't like you just snapped a finger and like, OK, hey, now we lost those two guys," Macdonald said. "It's a process. And so at the end of the day, yeah, that's what ended up and that's where our team's going. But I think we had the mentality throughout of, 'OK, why are we making this decision? If we go down this road, what's it going to look like, because it's best for our team.' And that's kind of the decision criteria we faced and followed the whole time, and it seemed like it happened really quickly, but it felt like we went through the process the right way and made the best decisions for us."

Macdonald acknowledged that agreeing to the Smith trade a few days before they could negotiate with Darnold was a calculated risk, but the Seahawks were able to make their plan come to fruition once the free-agency negotiating window opened.

"Yeah, it was a leap of faith to a certain extent, but we were confident in the options that were available at the time, and obviously hopeful that Sam's opportunity worked out," Macdonald said, "We're really fortunate that we got the situation that we want kind of prioritized. So that's cool."

3. The Seahawks see new defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence as "a disruptor."

The Seahawks defense has undergone fewer changes than the offense, but one significant addition was that of four-time Pro-Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who signed as a free agent after 11 seasons with the Cowboys.

"Really excited about him," Macdonald said. "I think he complements our room really well. AD (defensive coordinator Aden Durde) will get a laugh if he hears this, but he's a heck of a six technique—shout out to Leslie Frazier, that's a constant battle in the office—but just a disruptor. He can play the way we want to play technique-wise, but also, this guy's really, really smart on what sets tell you, what blocks am I going to get, being able to create more negative plays on early downs to get us in some of those advantageous defensive situations that are really going to help us. Then obviously the pass-rush element too, complementing Chenna (Nwosu) and Boye (Mafe) and all those guys. Moving him up and down the line like we do—we like to move guys around—so he fits right in."

While Lawrence has plenty of sack production in his career, tallying 61.5 over 11 seasons, he's much more than just a late-down edge rusher.

"That's kind of how I'm talking about him on early downs, converting versus play-action pass. Just understanding, 'Hey, I don't have to play everything on this play. This guy's the guy who's going to block me. It's a play-action pass. All you got to do is beat this guy now.' That's what wisdom and experience and reps and intelligence does—he understands how the game works—it lets him play fast, lets him play violent, and lets him take opportunities where you can take a chance and create a play for us."

4. The Seahawks are excited about re-signing Josh Jobe, but they also want to add more depth and competition at cornerback.

It might not have been the splashiest move of the offseason, but re-signing cornerback Josh Jobe was an important one for the Seahawks defense. Jobe, initially signed with Seattle as a practice squad player, finished the year as the team's third cornerback, essentially a starting role.

So it's no surprise that Macdonald is happy to have Jobe back, but he also wants to keep adding competition and depth to that position group, which is led by Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon.

"A wise man once said, you can never have too many corners," Macdonald said, "It might be Ozzie Newsome that said that, and he's right. So we need to create more competition in the back room, especially at corner. Josh knows that when he signed up, but I'm really excited about Josh just taking his career to the next level and how he competes. I think one thing that Josh does such a great job of is just the day-in day-out process, how he approached his job, his responsibilities, how he studies. Him and Spoon work really well together. So that's the type of energy we talked about that we need this offseason in the room so we can sharpen each other and be able to put a heck of a group out there. But he's going to be a big part of what we're doing.

5. Macdonald and company want to get the most out of Riq Woolen.

Woolen, who made the Pro Bowl as a rookie after tying for the league lead with six interceptions, was by no means bad over his next two seasons, but as he has discussed himself, the consistency hasn't been where he'd like it to be at times. That's something Macdonald brought up last season as well, and Macdonald knows that if he and the coaching staff can help Woolen be at his best more consistently, that will mean great things for the defense.

"If he sat right here, he'd just tell you just play-to-play focus on just kind of the checklist of what you need to do, play-in, play-out," Macdonald said when asked about getting the best out of Woolen. "Riq had a heck of an off-season last year. I'm really excited about him. We all know what his strengths are, but when he's at his best, he really unlocks our defense, because he takes away the side of the field. We can push coverage away from him, so we're really excited about it, but we have to work together. Him and us as a coaching staff, make it come to life every day and then that's when the best version comes alive."

Asked if he expects to get that done, Macdonald said, "Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's our job, man. It's why we get paid."

6. The defense will benefit from a full offseason, and season, with Ernest Jones IV.

Linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who was acquired in a midseason trade last year, played a big role in Seattle's defensive turnaround, which is why re-signing him was such an important part of the offseason. And for as good as Jones was last year, the Seahawks should be getting an even more complete version of him this season now that he'll have a full offseason to prepare with his teammates and coaching staff.

"Now we have the continuity, Ernest understands what we're trying to achieve," Macdonald said. "He's got a great feel for just how we want to operate day-in, day-out. That's why we love him so much because it's so much aligned. But there are things, there's idiosyncrasies of details and things like that that he needs to work on to take his game to the next level. He's going to have ample opportunity now to do it rather than just saying, 'Hey, what do I need to get ready to get my body ready to go play another football game?' We can work on all those things throughout the off-season. It'll be great."

7. The new offensive scheme should help the offensive line, particularly second-year guards Christian Haynes and Sataoa Laumea. Another year of experience will also be big for them.

As general manager and president of football operations John Schneider discussed on Monday, the Seahawks are counting on the new offense, led by Klint Kubiak, to make life easier on the offensive line. That, and the experience of the coaches Kubiak is bringing with him, including offensive line coach John Benton and run game coordinator/senior offensive advisor Rick Dennison, should help the Seahawks get better play out of their young linemen. So too, Macdonald noted, should the fact that in the case of several possible starters, we're talking about young linemen heading into their second or third seasons in the league.

"It's definitely going to help us," Macdonald said of the scheme. "I felt like what they've done in their past in college, that's part of their best film. Some of the wide-zone stuff, running off the ball, things like that. But I think it wouldn't be wise to underestimate a Year 1 to Year 2 jump. These are guys who are really excited about, they showed flashes last year, and can you kind of go all the way down the line—Abe having a whole offseason to work and train and get stronger, be in the same system the whole time, that's really valuable. Charles Cross, same thing, another off-season to get stronger, take his game the next level and then obviously the guards are point of conversation.

"But again, going from being a rookie and you're just kind of like, 'What the heck's going on? I'm just going to go in there, and I'm working offseason, draft and all this crap.' Now it's, 'Hey, I've been training in the same spot all off season. I get the whole offseason program from Day 1, any rookie should have an expectation to be able to really take their game to next level, especially those guys."