Battle-Tested Nehemiah Pritchett ‘Making Heck of a Case' for Expanded Role in Seahawks’ Defense

RENTON, Wash. - In the heat of a smoky eighth training camp practice on Monday, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett walked up towards the line of scrimmage on the left side of the formation tasked with one of the toughest assignments in the NFL: trying to cover Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Smith-Njigba initially took an inside release, working his way down the hash before cutting back outside on a corner route. Staying with the reigning Offensive Player of the Year in phase, Pritchett hung in the receiver’s hip pocket out of Smith-Njigba’s stem, putting himself in solid position to be able to make a play on the football.

However, as Smith-Njigba seemingly did to every cornerback who tried to cover him last season, the All-Pro gained a couple steps of separation with his elite quickness out of his break, becoming more than open enough for Sam Darnold to pull the trigger from the pocket. After a subtle push off on Pritchett that may or may not have been flagged in a game situation, he hauled in a long pass from the quarterback and turned up the sideline for a 50-yard touchdown.

Such is life trying to contain the NFL’s receiving yardage leader, something Pritchett knows all too well from battling against him in practice during his two-plus seasons in Seattle, including getting torched in a one-on-one rep in Tuesday’s session. But for the third-year defender, who finds himself entrenched in a competition for the No. 3 cornerback spot this summer, learning to play the game with short-term memory has been critical, understanding that those experiences on the practice field against Smith-Njigba, speedster Rashid Shaheed, and others in a deep Seattle receiving corps will best prepare him for what he will face on Sundays.

“I know I'm getting the best looks from them, best game-wise,” Pritchett said prior to Monday’s practice. “But really, our receiver group tough, so really anybody in that group you're gonna get the look you need to get.”

Putting that lesson of football amnesia to the test, Pritchett lined right back up across from Smith-Njigba just two plays later, and this time, he came out with the upper hand. Darnold tried to squeeze a laser into his No. 1 receiver on a curl route, but the former fifth round pick out of Auburn reached his right hand out in front to knock the ball away for an incompletion.

Considering how dominant Smith-Njigba was against anyone and everyone in the league in 2025, coming through with pass breakups against him as Pritchett did puts a significant feather in the cap for the 25-year-old, who has been in the driver’s seat thus far in the fight to replace departed free agent Riq Woolen. Through 10 practices, as the most experienced “incumbent” in a youthful corner group that now includes free agent signee Noah Igbinoghene and a trio of rookies, he has received the bulk of the first-team reps as the third cornerback on the field in nickel and dime groupings.

While Macdonald isn’t close to being ready to name Pritchett as the winner of the competition, especially with third round pick Julian Neal yet to return from a leg injury that has cost him five practices thus far and fellow rookies Michael Dansby and Andre Fuller making positive impressions, he has seen tangible progress on the field in all areas from the 2024 draftee.

“He’s really competing and really excited for the opportunity he has,” Macdonald said of Pritchett’s performance in camp. “He’s making the most of it. He’s making a heck of a case for carving himself a role.”

In his first two seasons, Pritchett got thrown into the fire for a handful of games as an injury replacement with uneven results, including filling in for Woolen in a Week 5 loss to the Buccaneers last October. In that particular game, the Alabama native struggled mightily with quarterback Baker Mayfield going right after him in coverage, allowing two touchdowns in coverage as Tampa Bay put up 38 points on the scoreboard in a rare defensive dud for coach Mike Macdonald’s squad.

But to Pritchett’s credit, when Macdonald called his number again in Week 10 against the Cardinals, much as he did in the second rep against Smith-Njigba on Monday, he rose to the occasion. While he did give up a touchdown in the second half and didn’t have a perfect performance, he generated a pair of pass breakups on three targets, including a spectacular play punching the ball out of Marvin Harrison Jr.’s hands while laying out in midair, preventing a score that drew rave reviews from Macdonald.

Addressing one of his biggest issues from his first year in the league, Pritchett made major strides as a tackler, going from missing six of them and posting a dreadful 33% missed tackle rate in his rookie season to only missing one tackle on defense in just under 100 snaps in 2025. He also pitched in nine tackles on special teams playing on kick and punt coverage as well, tying for third on the team behind only Brady Russell and Tyrice Knight.

Now a seasoned vet, albeit one who still has under 300 defensive snaps to his name, Pritchett feels much more comfortable than he did in his first couple of seasons, having a strong grasp for Macdonald’s playbook as well as the techniques being coached up by the staff and a better understanding of how to maintain his body during the rigors of an NFL training camp as well as into the season.

“It's coming easier now,” Pritchett said. “As a rookie, you don't really have a routine. You're still trying to find your ways. A lot of stuff going through your head, playbook, how you're taking care of your body. Right now, I'm kind of growing and getting better at those things, so I'd say it's been pretty smooth so far.”

Up to this point, Pritchett had road blocks ahead of him that kept him from being able to compete for significant playing time, including Josh Jobe’s emergence to go with Pro Bowlers Devon Witherspoon and Woolen. On top of those three, the arrival of Nick Emmanwori led to more three and four-safety looks a year ago, sometimes taking the third cornerback off the field.

But with Woolen in Philadelphia and Emmanwori recovering from recent ankle surgery, depending on whether the latter is available for the start of the regular season, Pritchett may never have a better situation presented to him to earn substantial snaps and prove himself. The trio of Neal, Dansby, and Fuller has never played an NFL down, while Igbinoghene has bounced around with three teams in six seasons and only started more than two games once in his career before signing a one-year prove it deal in March.

Though Igbinoghene has first round pedigree and more versatility with slot cornerback experience, he hasn’t played in Macdonald’s system for two years as Pritchett has, and the latter brings 4.3 speed and more length to the equation. So far, the exposure to Seattle’s scheme seems to be carrying plenty of weight, and if he can continue to show improvement in terms of consistency while sparring with the likes of Smith-Njigba and Shaheed every day, he has a great chance to lock down a key secondary role.

Keeping his focus on himself and not fretting about how others battling for snaps against him perform, Pritchett’s only goal remains to continue stacking positive day after positive day, knowing that if he takes care of what he can control, the Seahawks will be able to confidently turn to him as a viable successor to Woolen with an uptick in play time opportunities.

“I'm not really worried about that part of it. I'm just more so focused on myself and how I can get better each and every day. I feel like the rest will take care of itself. It’s me just continuing to take the steps I need to take to continue to get better.”