Seahawks' Uchenna Nwosu has hardly played but has chance at important reward

There is a chance that Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu will get activated from injured reserve this week and be able to play in Week 14 against the Arizona Cardinals. When healthy, Nwosu is arguably the team's most versatile and most consistently good player at his position. The issue is that he has not been able to play much since Week 7 of the 2023 season.

Due to various injuries, most recently a thigh issue, Nwosu has played only part of one game this year. In the last four games, Seattle's defense has been just fine without Nwosu, though the defense certainly seemed to be missing him earlier in the season. Getting him back for the remainder of the season might be enough to help Seattle get to the playoffs.

But that is all on-the-field stuff. Off the field, Nwosu has been even better. On Thursday, he was the Seattle Seahawks nominee for the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award. This goes to a player who has on-field success but, more importantly, continuously strives to make the world around them better away from football.

Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu named nominee for Walter Payton Man of the Year award

Nwosu has also been nominated before. He was the nominee for the award for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019. His list of good deeds away from football is numerous.

These include donating a seven-figure amount to Los Angeles' "Summer Night Lights" program, which hopes to reduce gang violence; he invested in several multi-family homes in his native California to maintain rent control for those who have less money than others; he donated $2.3 million for the renovation of a library in Carson, California; he established the Uchenna Nwosu Foundation to help promote education, health and wellness to children between eight and 17.

He also is heavily invested in the Seattle area in programs such as the Boys and Girls Club, the nonprofit Treehouse foundation, and Toys for Tots drives. So even though Nwosu isn't playing on the field, he is doing better work away from the Seahawks.

Former Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner was the Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for his new team, the Washington Commanders. Each nominee receives up to $55,000 and the award winner receives up to a $265,000 donation to their charity of choice. The Seahawks have had two previous winners of the award: Steve Largent in 1988 and Russell Wilson in 2020.

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