In the past week, the Seattle Seahawks placed six rookies on the non-football injury (NFI) list. The good part was that none of the players were expected to contribute much right away, if ever. But there is one veteran's injury that will cause the team more worry.
To be fair, edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu being placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list is not a shock. There are a couple of reasons for this, with one of them being cynical.
The cynical includes the fact that in the last two seasons, Nwosu has missed 22 of a possible 34 games with various injuries. Expecting Nwosu to be healthy enough to play consistently seems foolish currently. He has to prove he can do that. (He can be activated at PUP at any point during training camp and the preseason.)
Seattle Seahawks put Uchenna Nwosu on PUP ahead of 2025 training camp
The other reason that Nwosu being placed on PUP is not surprising is that he had offseason knee surgery, which was supposed to be more of a clean-up procedure. In March, during one of his John Schneider Show podcasts on Seattle Sports 710 AM, Schneider implied that Nwosu missing the start of the regular season would not be shocking.
The edge rusher might be entering his final season with the team. He is signed through 2026, but has a cap hit of $20,018,334 next year, but no guaranteed money. The Seahawks could release him next offseason and save $11,510,000.
The shame of all this is that Nwosu is a really good person, who people should hope has good things happen to him, but he also would be a valuable piece of an edge rush group that includes Boye Mafe, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Derick Hall. Nwosu has to stay healthy, however, or there is no reason to pay him $20 million next season.
He is capable of greatness. In 2022, in his first year in Seattle, he led the team with 9.5 sacks, 26 quarterback hits, and 12 tackles for loss. If he were capable of playing a full season and partnered with the other three edge rushers mentioned above, Seattle's edge rusher group would be among the best in the league.
Maybe Nwosu does play much of 2025, but that seems unlikely based on his recent history. Lawrence, Mafe, and Hall are a decent group, but a thin one. Plus, Lawrence is 33 years old and missed 13 games in 2024. If he were to be hurt once again, that leaves just Mafe and Hall, and that isn't good enough.
The hope is that Nwosu might not miss any regular season games, but John Schneider has already readied us for that to happen. The same thing happened last year, too, with right tackle Abraham Lucas. He had a knee cleanup last offseason, and then he missed the first nine games of the season.