The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Tennessee Titans in preseason Week 2, but that ultimately doesn't matter. Preseason games are meant to showcase players who are trying their best to make the team. The games are also ones in which coaches hold their breath that players don't get hurt.
For head coach Mike Macdonald, he might be forced to breathe out slowly because his team wasn't lucky with injuries against the Titans. Seattle lost two players to long-term issues: rookie safety Bud Clark and backup offensive lineman Mason Richman.
The issue in terms of Clark is that Seattle's elite defense is beginning to suffer from a number of players getting hurt. Nick Emmanwori, for instance, had surgery on his ankle ahead of training camp and hasn't yet practiced. His availability for Week 1 is still in question.
Bud Clark's injury is the tip of the iceberg for the Seattle Seahawks
Safety Rodney Thomas was fighting to hang on to the bottom of the roster, but he recently had surgery on his right hand and missed preseason Week 2. After the game, Macdonald said he wasn't sure "if or when: Thomas would return to the team. The "if" part had to be alarming to the player.
In the place of Clark, Emmanwori, and, to a lesser degree, Thomas, Seattle has D'Anthony Bell, AJ Finley, and starters Ty Okada and Julian Love. Depth is a real concern for the defending Super Bowl champions, and the season hasn't yet started.
Plus, the safety group was likely going to have to help out a cornerback group that has a couple of good players and a bunch of question marks after them.
Two obvious signs the team isn't happy with its current cornerback corps are the chasing of embattled Terrion Arnold, who can't officially sign as he is on the NFL's exempt list while facing eight felony charges, and the signing of Trevon Diggs, a once-great player who has suffered numerous knee injuries. Neither might be good enough to actually help the team.
Mike Macdonald is a defensive back guru, and if any coach can mold the current group into a very good one, it is him, but he might have his work cut out. This is being made worse by the number of injuries the team is seeing.
Bud Clark broke his ankle in the first quarter of preseason Week 2, and he will miss several months. Imagining he will return at some point this season is difficult. He probably won't return until 2027. He was trending toward being an important part of helping disguise Macdonald's defensive alignments, much like Emmanwori did as a rookie in 2025.
If Clark was the only injury, that would be bad enough, but he isn't. The Seattle Seahawks cannot afford more injuries, or the defense that led the team to a title last season might be too watered down to do so this season.
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