Camp Takeaways: Tory Horton, Rookie Class Continues to Shine in Seahawks’ Ninth Practice
RENTON, Wash. - In their final tuneup before Saturday’s Football Fest at Lumen Field, the Seattle Seahawks hit the field for their ninth training camp practice on Friday, dropping the pads for a lengthy OTA-style session.
What went down at the VMAC? Here are five takeaways from the Seahawks ninth practice, including rookies continuing to make a statement in their first NFL camp:
1. Back healthy, Tory Horton took flight with his best practice as a pro so far.
Before suffering a knee/hamstring injury that required mid-season surgery and ended his college career early at Colorado State, Horton looked to be on the fast track to a top-90 selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. One year earlier, he lit up future top-three pick Travis Hunter and Colorado in a showcase rivalry game in front of a national audience and he surpassed 1,000 yards to go with three punt returns for touchdowns during the 2022 and 2023 seasons for the Rams.
Unfortunately, the injury came at the worst time for Horton, who wasn’t able to run a 40-yard dash until late in the pre-draft process and ultimately fell all the way to the fifth round as a result. But as this week has demonstrated, that misfortune could end up being fantastic news for the Seahawks and their passing game with the speedy, soft-handed receiver now 100 percent healthy and quickly surging up the depth chart on offense.
After not being able to participate in team drills during OTAs and mandatory minicamp this spring, Horton’s rehab finally reached the end of the tunnel during the five week hiatus before training camp. Seattle didn’t have to put him on the PUP list and he has been a full participant for most of the first nine practices, continuing to become more impactful by day. In Friday’s practice, he reeled in a 38-yard touchdown reception from Drew Lock while running down the seam, snagging the pass at full extension before taking off for the end zone. He also made a fantastic touchdown grab in 7-on-7, scoring multiple times in a practice for the first time and impressing teammates such as rookie teammate Elijah Arroyo.
“I am very proud of him,” Arroyo said of Horton. “From him coming in and not being able to get team reps, to coming out today, really this whole week, he has been coming out and working. He has been coming out with his head on fire, so hats off to him.”
Despite being a day three pick, Horton offers something that few receivers on Seattle’s roster possess: legitimate sub-4.4 speed to go with size and after the catch ability. After trading DK Metcalf and cutting Tyler Lockett in the offseason, if there’s an area of concern for the ‘Hawks passing attack, it’s the lack of a true downfield threat with game-changing speed, and as exhibited on Friday, the electric rookie has the goods to fill that role in Klint Kubiak’s scheme and push veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling for snaps in the near future.
2. Another day, another pick - and a few other big plays - for Nick Emmanwori.
It may seem like a broken record at this point, but the Seahawks may have found themselves a rising star in Emmanwori, who just keeps making impact play after impact play for Mike Macdonald’s defense and having a blast while doing it. Earlier in the week, he recorded a pick six against Jalen Milroe and added a diving interception capped off by signing the football and handing it to a fan on Thursday, but his best practice yet came on Friday.
During the first team drill, the 6-3, 220-pound Emmanwori - who looks bigger than those listed combine measurements on the field - flashed his 4.32 40-yard dash speed in pursuit chasing down Zach Charbonnet on a sweep run, cutting him off at the sideline after darting across the field to push him out of bounds for no gain. Moments later, he bodied up tight end Eric Saubert in coverage and extended his arm in front of the target for a pass breakup working as a big nickel defender out of the slot.
Emmanwori saved his best theatrics for the latter stages of practice, however. Lined up against a fellow second round pick in Arroyo, he stayed connected to the tight end’s hip as the two sprinted downfield and he covered the athletic pass catcher on a go route. Arroyo reached up to try to catch the ball in tight coverage, but it deflected off his fingertips and Emmanwori rolled underneath the deflection to secure an interception in the end zone, standing up and spinning the ball on the turf before cornerback Devon Witherspoon kicked it towards the sideline in celebration.
“I think the ball has just been finding me,” Emmanwori said following practice. “That’s just me putting in the work, trusting the coaching staff, being in the right position and having the ultimate confidence in myself. I was talking a little smack in practice about it, stop throwing the ball my way, just trying to get my confidence up, but I think that's just the work I've been putting in and the balls have been finding me.”
As Emmanwori noted after practice, he hopes to see the game continue slowing down for him as he becomes more comfortable in Mike Macdonald’s scheme playing a variety of roles. But the fact he has been getting his hands on the football as frequently as he has speaks volumes on his instincts, especially since he has been lining up much of the time either off the edge or in the slot rather than as a traditional safety, and he keeps stacking more reps with the first-team defense by day as a result of his steady growth.
3. Shot plays highlight a solid, yet inconsistent day for Sam Darnold and rest of QB room.
For a second straight practice, albeit this time without the element of pads and contact, the Seahawks amassed quite a few chunk plays in the passing game during team periods with all three of their quarterbacks getting involved in the action. Darnold opened the festivities only a few plays into the first team segment, lofting a perfectly thrown strike downfield to Cooper Kupp on a slot fade against busted coverage for a 40-yard completion.
Seattle’s new starting quarterback had an up-and-down day, as Darnold did throw two interceptions on the afternoon that each happened in the end zone, including Emmanwori’s coming off of Arroyo’s fingertips on a play that was more bad luck than anything else. His best throw of the afternoon did come in the red zone, however, as he hit Jaxon-Smith Njigba in stride after the receiver got a step on cornerback Riq Woolen for an 18-yard scoring toss.
Leading the second team offense and having one of his better days in camp to this point, Lock had the cleanest day of the quarterback group, going the whole practice without any interceptions while launching several strikes downfield to receivers. Among his best throws, Lock’s 38-yard dart down the seam to Horton drew big cheers from the crowd and he later dropped a dime into the bucket to fourth-year receiver Dareke Young in the back righthand corner of the end zone to beat tight coverage on a 20-yard completion for six points.
As for Milroe, the rookie had some bouts with accuracy issues on Friday, uncorking a couple of throws into the dirt and throwing behind receivers on several shorter throws, including one that wound up being intercepted by linebacker Jamie Sheriff. But he made up for those missed opportunities with two of the most impressive throws made all day, unloading on a 43-yard touchdown to rookie Tyrone Broden Jr. on a fade route and finishing off practice with a bang by stepping up in the pocket to fire a 60-yard bullet to Steven Sims Jr., who caught the ball one-handed to close out the day with a long touchdown.
4. Looking like a ninth-year pro, Devon Witherspoon shows once again why he’s a special talent.
Given the emergence of Emmanwori over the past week and the litany of talent the Seahawks have assembled in their secondary, it can be easy to forget about just how talented Witherspoon is. But that wasn’t the case in Friday’s practice, as the two-time Pro Bowler made one of the most impressive interceptions that you’ll ever see on a football field while manned up against Valdes-Scantling in the red zone and reminded everyone why he’s the ring leader of the defensive backfield.
Only a couple plays after Darnold hooked up with Kupp for a big play, the Seahawks’ first team offense had advanced into the red zone. The quarterback dropped back from under center and gave a sticky play fake, hoping to freeze the defense. But that didn’t fool Witherspoon, who turned out of his backpedal and stayed locked onto Valdes-Scantling on a fade route.
Most of the time defending against similar routes, cornerbacks fail to get their head turned to actually make a play on the football. Witherspoon, however, showed off his prior basketball background by legally “boxing out” the veteran wideout, getting his head around without making illegal contact and taking advantage of a slightly underthrown pass to high point it for the pick. Demonstrating his respect for the play made by the defender, Valdes-Scantling patted him on the back and shook his hand afterward, acknowledging the sensational interception.
“Spoon’s a dog,” Emmanwori smiled. “I’ve never played with a player that talented, especially with the secondary. The way he moves, the way his instincts are so fast, the way he diagnoses plays. I'm really trying to soak up everything that I can from him and just learn from him. His twitch is crazy. His motor, he's all over the field. I respect him a lot.”
With Emmanwori now providing Seattle more flexibility in regard to how it will utilize the slot, Witherspoon could see more action on the boundary than he has in his first two seasons. This could mean more targets coming his way, and in turn, more chances to generate interceptions such as the one he had on Friday after only picking off one pass since entering the NFL as a top-five draft choice.
5. Competitions on the offensive line going in opposite directions approaching the end of week No. 2.
Earlier in the week, Macdonald hinted that the Seahawks would like to have clarity on who will be starting at right guard and center by the middle of the preseason, letting reps during the first one or two exhibition contests play a key role in determining who earns a spot in the lineup. One of those positions already looks to be closing in on a choice, while the other remains as clouded as ever.
At the center position, even after enduring a challenging Thursday practice, Olu Oluwatimi received the vast majority of first-team reps at center on Friday, continuing a trend as of late where Jalen Sundell has been spending most of his time at guard rather than actually competing at the pivot position. For most of camp, the former Michigan standout has been rock solid, regularly winning his matchups in 1-on-1s and not committing many noticeable mistakes aside from a few errant snaps. After playing well in place of Connor Williams in the final two months last season, he seems poised to retain that role heading towards Week 1.
As for right guard, however, someone with a blindfold on throwing darts at a board may have as much insight on who will win that job as the coaching staff does at this stage. In the first week of camp, Anthony Bradford barely saw any time with the first-team offense, largely restricted to playing with backups while Christian Haynes and Sundell received the lion’s share of starter snaps. But in the past few days, it has been Bradford who has logged most of the snaps with the first unit, while Haynes only saw action with the second-team offense on Friday and Sundell saw a downtick in snaps with that group as well.
If you add in Sataoa Laumea getting a handful of right guard reps earlier this week, it can be debated that Seattle still has four players in the mix for the job. It’s anyone’s guess who will take the field against San Francisco next month and while things could change quickly over the next couple weeks, Macdonald and offensive line coach John Benton have their work cut out for them trying to figure out who deserves to win that job in a wide open race that currently lacks a favorite.
