The Seahawks tried to trade up for Nick Emmanwori in the first round, so when that didn’t work John Schneider had to agonize all night and the next day until finally a team relented and the Titans moved down from 35 to 52* and Seattle sacrificed pick 82* to complete the agreement.
So even if Emmanwori wasn’t a first round pick, in many ways that’s how the Seahawks valued him in the draft and taking him at pick 18 was a consideration. Pete Carroll has made references to Schneider’s super power being an ability to know when prospects will get drafted, so to come away with two players that Seattle wanted on day one (three if you include Elijah Arroyo, who Schneider has said had top-15 talent if not for his injury history) that further illustrates the Seahawks’ advantage every April.
But only if the players live up to the hype.
*DK Metcalf trade
*Seahawks original 3rd, but had an extra because of Geno Smith trade
Since 2022, the Seahawks have all but erased the narrative that their first picks usually underwhelm:
2022: Charles Cross is no worse than a good left tackle
2023: JSN is the best first round WR in team history, Devon Witherspoon has a chance to become great if he stays healthy
2024: Byron Murphy is on track to be the team’s best first round DT in decades
2025: Grey Zabel looks the part at LG
Although we can attribute some of Seattle’s success to having higher draft picks than during most of Pete’s tenure, that’s not really true of Smith-Njigba, Murphy, Zabel, or Emmanwori. The Seahawks had plenty of picks or opportunities to make picks between the middle and end of the first round but the returns were players like Rashaad Penny, Jordyn Brooks, L.J. Collier, Malik McDowell, German Ifedi, and Bruce Irvin.
Seattle could have had DeMarcus Lawrence all the way back in 2014, if not Joel Bitonio, but instead traded so far down from pick 32 that they landed on okay-not-great Paul Richardson. Eight picks ahead of Davante Adams.
Those types of decisions made Seahawks fans wary of Pete and John’s ability to make the most of their conservative draft approach, whereas the last four years — as Pete stepped back and then was finally ousted — make me feel like we won’t be looking back at “could’ves” anymore.
Nobody ever asks “What if?” when the picks are “Where do I sign up???”
Where do I sign up for more Nick Emmanworis?
In his return to the field last week, essentially his NFL debut re-set, Emmanwori played 36 snaps (62%) and led Seattle’s defense with 5 stops. Next Gen Stats defines a “stop” as any tackle that results in a negative EPA (estimated points added) for the offense, which is a fancy way of saying that the tackle stopped the other team from gaining as many yards as they needed.
It is not analytics to say that when your team has the ball, they have a plan for how many yards they want to get on each down in order to setup the next down. We always know how many yards a team needs on third down, but there are also markers for first and second down (it’s not “just get a first down every play”) because teams want third-and-easy opportunities.
A “stop” is basically the same as a coach saying: “You made the tackle that prevented the other team from achieving their goal.”
Simple.
In Week 5’s loss to the Bucs, Emmanwori’s 5 stops were 2 more stops than any of his teammates, all of whom played more snaps than him with the exception of linebackers Drake Thomas and Tyrice Knight. However, it’s immediately evident that Emmanwori is better than Thomas and Knight.
That’s part of the reason he’s playing so many snaps.
Now cut to Week 6 and Emmanwori’s snap total increased from 36 to 64 (94%) and once again he leads the Seahawks in stops: 6.
In fact, Emmanwori’s 6 stops were the most by any defensive back in the NFL. In addition to leading Seattle in stops for each of the past two games, Emmanwori was also sent on the blitz three times against the Bucs and he got two pressures on those plays. That’s a great success rate.
Emmanwori has almost exclusively been playing in the nickel position with Witherspoon sidelined, and although Trevor Lawrence completed 7-of-8 passes on throws in his area, those receptions only gained 35 yards. An average of 5.0 yards per catch allowed (and sometimes against Travis Hunter, the number two pick in the draft) and no touchdowns is a phenomenal day for a defensive back.
Before the draft, I wrote that Nick Emmanwori “is not Kyle Hamilton”. Once again, a Seahawks player is putting my newsletters in a blender.
As Hamilton is suffering through one of the worst defensive seasons in Ravens history (I’m sure he’s still good himself, but by being on a bad defense Hamilton has allowed as many touchdowns in 5 games as he had allowed in his first 3 seasons combined!), Emmanwori is thriving sooner than anyone expected.
If anything, Emmanwori has a bigger role on the Seahawks than Hamilton had on the Ravens in his first season: Hamilton played in 53% of the snaps as a rookie, but it’s doubtful that Emmanwori will come off of the field even after Julian Love and Witherspoon return.
In another excellent video by All-22, the Coach (who is a Ravens fan) shows us how Emmanwori is excelling by breaking down the film. Even leading the team in stops, Emmanwori is actually impacting more negative plays than any stats sheet will tell you:
The Coach was not the only one to highlight Emmanwori this week. Wil Upton had the same idea and did a breakdown video of his own. It’s good to get multiple perspectives of the same plays and players.
Coincidentally (or not), the only team to draft a safety higher than Emmanwori this year was the Baltimore Ravens.
Often cited as the best safety prospect in the 2025 class, sometimes projected in the top-10 overall, Malaki Starks went 27th overall to the Ravens. We should not directly compare 2 rookies on different defenses with different roles, but narratively Starks has become a scapegoat in Baltimore—
Whereas Emmanwori has been a safety-GOAT in Seattle.
I credit coaching.
Zach Orr is not thriving as the Ravens defensive coordinator as Mike Macdonald once did in the same role with many of the same players. Baltimore’s defense still ranks 32nd in points allowed. In comparison, Macdonald has the freedom to use Emmanwori in a role best suited for his CURRENT talents (we always knew he would play near the line of scrimmage this season, but he could be moved back in the future) and to hide or mitigate his possible WEAKNESSES.
Or as Richard Sherman wrote this week: “Mike Macdonald finally getting to unleash Nick Emmanwori in the way he hoped to. Gets a pressure of Trevor Lawrence to force a errant pass and 4th down. In his words he has had to be very vanilla because they designed so much around Emmanwori’s unique skill set. Look forward to seeing how many ways they use him.”
Starks may not be afforded these same opportunities.
Is Nick Emmanwori the best football player of all-time?
Maybe, but before that becomes official he probably still needs to create a turnover or get a sack or something. If he forces one turnover, only then will he be cited as the greatest player of all time.
In his first 115 snaps, Emmanwori has zero missed tackles and three tackles for a loss, but Seahawks fans are still anticipating his first interception, forced fumble, and/or sack. It sure seems like that moment is inevitable and coming in the near future. Emmanwori had 4 interceptions and 2 touchdowns for South Carolina last year.
Via Brady Henderson: Mike Macdonald likes the rookie’s mentality: “There’s some really cool stuff on tape from the game where he’s trying to play like us, and I think he’s showing that’s who he is.”
Emmanwori is ranked up there with the best athletes in the sport’s history, but he had a lot to prove as a football player and he still has a lot of development left as a defensive back as far as anyone knows. His first two games back from injury have gone as well as even the most optimistic fans could have hoped for and came at a time when the Seahawks sorely needed it because of Witherspoon’s injury.
When Seattle is able to get back Witherspoon, Love, and Tariq Woolen, if Macdonald can hope to suit up the entire secondary for a while, any weaknesses by the Seahawks defense should be overshadowed by their strengths. For a team scoring points at its highest clip since 2015 and playing special teams as if their coordinator is a Harbaugh (oh wait, he is), that’s basically the definition of a team nobody wants to fuck with.
Good teams hit on their first round picks. Great teams find first round picks all over the draft.
Seaside Joe 2416
I consider this the one time I use the F word on SSJ in 2025. You get one per year and I guess this was it for me.
You say, “Emmanwori is ranked up there with the best athletes in the sport’s history, but he had a lot to prove as a football player…” I’ve commented several times that some people are athletes who play football, and some people are football players. DK is an example of an athlete who plays football, and people always think his superstar breakout is around the corner. Kupp is an example of a football player who shocked people with his production given his athletic profile. I’ve always felt it better to have a football player over an athlete who plays football. But the best of all worlds is a football player who is also an athlete. Emmanwori looks that part. Let’s go Hawks!!