Why Robert Nkemdiche might be important for Seahawks in week 2

The Seahawks made a couple of moves on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s week 2 game versus the Titans. One was to elevate Robert Nkemdiche to the active roster. The other was to downgrade receiver Dee Eskridge to out as he suffered a concussion in week one’s victory over the Colts.

Nkemdiche being elevated might mean that Seattle has doubts that defensive tackle Bryan Mone will be able to play. Mone has been limited in practice with an elbow injury suffered in week one. Make no mistake, though, Mone is a better run defender than Nkemdiche ever could be. Nkemdiche, however, could still be a force against Tennessee.

If motivated and healthy, Nkemdiche can potentially be a disruptor. For week 2, Nkemdiche must be healthy or the Seahawks would not have activated him. But how motivated Nkemdiche is remains a question because his whole career has been a seeming lack of motivation. He is quick and big and talented but that hasn’t translated to NFL productivity.

Robert Nkemdiche can be great for Seahawks in week two

The Titans have a lot of offensive talent (ignore what you may have seen in week one because that is likely an outlier for how Tennesse will do this year). Stopping the Titans offense is two-fold. First, stop Derrick Henry and the run game. But then even if you do that, keep Julio Jones and A.J. Brown in check. Doing both well is a task.

But Nkemdiche has more potential ability to impact the Titans run game and passing offense than does Mone or any other pure defensive tackle for the Seahawks. Seattle will probably rotate Rasheem Green in on passing downs and have Green play DT. But the early downs of this game could make the difference between a Seattle win or loss.

In 2018, Nkemdiche had 4.5 sacks and 11 pressures with the Cardinals. But he also played nearly as many run snaps (193) versus pass snaps (232) meaning he wasn’t just a situational player. But in 2021 with the Seahawks when given the chance to finally prove himself Nkemdiche must show he can be consistently productive no matter what an opposing offense wants to do.

And for Nkemdiche, this starts in week two against the Titans. Plus, Nkemdiche’s birthday is Sunday so maybe he sees a rebirth of his career on the same date he was actually born. That would be a pretty sweet thing to see.