The Seattle Seahawks already had a good defense in 2024. The team made a concerted effort to try to bring every important player from last season back this past offseason, too. Why mess with a good thing?
Even better, why not add a tremendous disruptor in the draft? Seattle did just that by moving up to pick 35 in the 2025 NFL draft and choosing safety Nick Emmanwori out of South Carolina. He was expected to be a Swiss Army knife of a defensive back who could play safety as well as cornerback.
Heck, maybe he could even be an edge rusher if needed, too. The key has been that whatever Seattle asked him to do, he has done as a rookie, but done so at an extremely high level. In Week 14, he did a bit of everything to help turn a 6-3 deficit for Seattle in the first half into a 37-9 victory.
Seattle Seahawks rookie Nick Emmanwori feasts on the Atlanta Falcons
Emmanwori blocked a field goal attempt, for instance, but he also had a sack on a blitz. He added two tackles for loss and had an interception. He was also third on the team with six tackles. The real treat for Seahawks fans is that he is basically a bigger version of cornerback Devon Witherspoon, but both Emmanwori and Witherspoon create havoc for opposing offenses.
While the offense finally had a spark in the second half, it was Emmanwori and the defense and special teams that allowed Seattle to stay in a game that they had to win. A loss would not have crippled the team's playoff hopes, but good teams need to beat bad ones, and the Seahawks did just that. Finally.
Devon Witherspoon on Nick Emmanwori: “Bro’s playing his ass off… There’s nothing he can’t do.” pic.twitter.com/OyABCOoNyw
— John Boyle (@johnpboyle) December 7, 2025
Next for Emmanwori and the rest of his team is the Indianapolis Colts, a team that appears to have lost quarterback Daniel Jones to a major Achilles tendon injury in Week 14. Indy will also likely be without cornerback Sauce Gardner as he has a calf injury, and right tackle Braden Smith might be out with a concussion.
In other words, Seattle will basically be playing another not-good team in the Colts' current form. The Seahawks should take care of business in Week 15, too.
The fun part for Seattle Seahawks fans will be watching how much Nick Emmanwori will be able to disrupt the Colts in at least two phases of the game. But why stop there? The foreseeable future with Emmanwori should be must-watch football for 12s.