When a non-quarterback stays injured and misses more time than they play, it is easy to forget how much of an impact they can have on a football team. Fans get used to watching their favorite team do things without the player. This has been the case with the Seattle Seahawks and Uchenna Nwosu.
Nwosu has flashed the potential to be a very good player when healthy. In 2022, his first season with Seattle after signing as a free agent, Nwosu was easily the best edge rusher the team had. But then the injuries began to hit, and Nwosu missed 20 of 34 games over the next two seasons.
While younger players Boye Mafe and Derick Hall were beginning to emerge as the key players in Nwosu's position group, the veteran was busy rehabbing one of several injuries. Many might have thought he could never be counted on to be productive and sustainably healthy ever again.
Uchenna Nwosu reminds Seattle Seahawks fans in Week 4 just how good he can be
In Week 4, we got an answer to part of that: Uchenna Nwosu is capable of being very good and disruptive. Against the Arizona Cardinals, the edge rusher had two sacks, two tackles for loss, five tackles overall, and a quarterback hit. He set a hard edge against the run and got constant pressure.
He stepped up when the team needed him most, too. Veteran free agent acquisition DeMarcus Lawrence left with a thigh injury, and his absence hurt Seattle's depth. Hall was playing well, though he didn't have a sack yet again, and Mafe was helping stuff the run. Nwosu proved his versatility in a way that Arizona couldn't handle.
Nwosu is known to be an even better human being than a football player, and, when healthy, he is a very good football player. He is worth having on the roster even when he can't play because he is a respected and valued teammate. Mafe and Hall are good partly because Nwosu is there to help them.
But the NFL is also a tough business, and if a player isn't performing on the field and has a huge contract, they are a candidate to be released. Nwosu reworked his deal with Seattle a bit this past offseason, but the final year of his contract is 2026, when he has a $20,018,334 cap hit.
If the Seattle Seahawks were to release him, the team would save a bit more than $11 million. That might be too much to pass up. Still, if Uchenna Nwosu continues to play as he did in Week 4, he should stay a part of the team, and a productive player at that.