‘One of One': Fully Healthy Nick Emmanwori Continues to Wow as Seahawks Brace for 49ers’ Prolific Offense

RENTON, Wash. - Just in his second NFL season, Nick Emmanwori has much left to learn as he grows into one of the cornerstones of Mike Macdonald’s defense built around multiplicity, still far from a finished product for the Seattle Seahawks.

But at just 22 years of age, even as he remains a ways away from reaching his ceiling and can still be prone to an occasional unwanted penalty from time to time, Emmanwori reminded everyone why he may be the most exciting must-see attraction on a talent-laden, star-studded Seahawks defense - if not the entire league - in a 30-23 win over the Chargers last Sunday. One snap in particular highlighted the second-year defender’s one-of-a-kind versatility early in the first quarter, when he scrambled up and down the defensive line pre-snap before settling in as a defensive end in a four-point stance and all off the left side.

Rocketing out of his stance as if he heard the gun at the starting line of the 400-meter sprint at the Summer Olympics, Emmanwori slanted inside against left tackle Joe Alt, executing a lightning quick spin move back outside to force quarterback Justin Herbert to unload the ball before he wanted to, looking every bit like a capable NFL edge rusher at 230 pounds. Even though the pass netted eight yards, a completion didn’t come close to moving the sticks on 3rd and 11 with the quick pressure leading to one of five consecutive Chargers punts.

Running out of adjectives at this point to describe the equally versatile and disruptive Emmanwori, Julian Love could only marvel at the latest addition to his teammate’s growing list of roles, which already included both safety spots, nickel cornerback, and off-ball linebacker in his arsenal coming out of a sensational rookie campaign.

“That’s Emmanwori, man. He's one of one,” Love said prior to Thursday’s practice. “Pretty cool getting the install of that one. He said he had a good four-point stance. It looked pretty clean. I think he did a good job.”

Finally all the way back from offseason ankle surgery that kept him out of all of training camp and prevented him from playing in Seattle’s season opening win against New England, Emmanwori played a season-high 56 defensive snaps against the Chargers and created all kinds of problems for Herbert and the visitors. Playing at least 14 snaps in the slot, in the box as a strong safety or linebacker, and off the edge as a defensive end or outside linebacker, the term “unicorn” doesn’t even seem to fit when describing his unprecedented positional flexibility and ability to wreak havoc from anywhere.

Starting with the aforementioned third down rush from a four-point stance, Emmanwori generated four pressures on eight pass rushing opportunities either coming off the edge or as a blitzer, the most by any safety in Week 4. Though he didn’t quite get to Herbert on two of those pressures in the opening quarter, he eventually made up for coming up just short on those earlier opportunities in the fourth quarter when he blitzed through the B-gap off the right side as an off-ball linebacker in the box, ripped past an overmatched tight end, and crashed into the pocket to bring down the quarterback for an 11-yard sack that turned second and manageable into 3rd and 19 in the blink of an eye.

Beyond being a relentless pest harassing Herbert from seemingly every angle as a pass rushing dynamo, Emmanwori also racked up tackles in bunches defending the run while logging playing time at as many as five distinct positions, including decisively rocketing into the backfield to corral Kimani Vidal for a one-yard loss. Among his eight combined tackles on Sunday, Pro Football Focus counted five of them as stops, including three run stuffs that netted three or fewer yards that signified failures for the Chargers’ offense.

Even in the passing game, Emmanwori made his presence felt while playing more than half his snaps up in the box or on the line of scrimmage, astutely picking up Herbert from his zone drop when the quarterback went out for a route on a designed receiver pass play in the red zone in the third quarter. The throw ended up sailing out of bounds with the defender draped all over the intended target, as the wideout who threw the ball wisely decided not to try to test the rising star with a pass anywhere near his vicinity.

“They don’t know what he’s going to do,” Love gushed. “They don’t know what a lot of our guys are going to do. It’s a credit to Nick. He just is very selfless, he takes coaching well, obviously he wants to clean up a few things from last game, but he’s making strides further along than he was at this point last year. And so stuff like that, it’s just a small peek into what he can do as a football player.”

Among the myriad of things Emmanwori can do at a high level on a football field, his latest trick evolving into a legitimate EDGE defender may be his most valuable chess piece to Macdonald and the coaching staff yet. It’s one thing to occasionally blitz from out wide as a safety, which he certainly did during his rookie season while producing 1.5 sacks, but it’s a whole other ball game putting both hands in the dirt like a defensive end and actually being effective going up against 300-plus pound blockers as he did on Sunday

To the player’s credit, he didn’t just figure how to rush from out wide overnight. Before he had his ankle cleaned up with an arthroscopic procedure in mid-July, the former second round pick spent extensive time during OTAs and mandatory minicamp in the spring working alongside Demarcus Lawrence, Uchenna Nwosu, and Derick Hall, sharpening everything from his hand placement to developing counter moves to footwork as he absorbed tips from the vets and coaching staff like a sponge. The team didn’t make any secrets about their intentions of adding another specialty to his job description either, openly divulging plans to get him more snaps there in the offseason.

For as amazing as what Emmanwori did on Sunday was, his penchant for the extraordinary has almost become expected at this point. Echoing Love’s comments about the youngster’s maturity and how he spends time with every defensive coach during the course of the practice week leading up to a game, defensive tackle Jarran Reed praised the South Carolina native for having both the physical tools and mental fortitude to be able to wear so many different hats in Macdonald’s complex defensive scheme and play each of those roles at an elite level come Sunday.

“You see him working with AD [defensive coordinator Aden Durde], CP [outside linebacker coach Chris Partridge] and literally every coach out there,” Reed remarked. “They pull him everywhere. Nick is such a great player. I don’t think I’ve seen a player, especially that plays safety, come down and rush on the edge, but he can do it all. He’s the jack of all trades.”

As Love indicated, Emmanwori didn’t have a perfect game for the Seahawks on Sunday, making a few notable mistakes that ended up helping the opposition put up points on the board that he would love to have back. In the closing minute of the first half, he lost control of his emotions post-whistle while battling against guard Cole Strange, head-butting the blocker and drawing a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty that set up a chip shot field goal for Cameron Dicker before halftime. Then in the third quarter, a tackle against running back Keaton Mitchell that would have resulted in a third down stop was negated when he latched onto the ball carrier’s face mask for another critical 15-yard penalty, eventually leading to a touchdown for the Chargers on an extended drive.

Exuding unusual frustration at the podium coming off of a win, in part due to Seattle being penalized 14 times for 150 yards as a team and Emmanwori contributing significantly to that “unacceptable” result, Macdonald wasn’t singing praises for the sophomore sensation when asked about his productive afternoon. Instead, with not-so-pleased body language in correspondence, he didn’t even delve into the several impact plays made the diverse defender, only acknowledging that everyone on the team needed to improve moving forward.

“It was good to have him back, but everybody has to get better,” Macdonald bluntly responded.

That’s the price that comes with being a special talent of Emmanwori’s caliber. For as well as he played in many regards in a victorious effort against the Chargers, the Seahawks expect even more from the player Love called the team’s true “X-factor,” with less of the penalties and more production as the ultimate Swiss army knife rounds back into full health and continues to add to his positional arsenal.

This is especially true for the upcoming opponent, as the undefeated 49ers will come to town boast a top-three scoring offense dialed up by coach Kyle Shanahan and led by Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, and George Kittle, who has been a thorn in the ‘Hawks side for the past decade. Back from a torn Achilles that kept him out of a 41-6 Divisional Round loss to Seattle back in January, he already has four touchdown receptions in four games and hasn’t missed a beat coming off the injury, and Emmanwori will face the daunting task of matching up against the physical, soft-handed star in coverage and as a run defender and blitzer at the line of scrimmage.

As a rookie, Emmanwori only played a couple of snaps in his NFL debut in Week 1 against San Francisco before exiting with a high ankle sprain, and Kittle promptly scored a touchdown after Ty Okada checked into the game in his place. Fast forwarding to the Week 18 in Santa Clara, he allowed four receptions on four targets against the perennial All-Pro tight end, but those catches only resulted in 25 yards and he blew him up on a screen for a tackle for loss, showcasing his immense value in a matchup that typically serves as a major mismatch for the majority of safeties. Two weeks later, with Kittle sidelined, he produced a pass breakup on three targets to tight end Jake Tonges.

Going up against a Niners offense that has been electric to open the season behind a revitalized Kittle and an ever-so-proficient Purdy leading the charge in Shanahan’s prolific system, the timing couldn’t be better for Emmanwori to be all the way back to a full workload. To even the score against the NFC West leader and win a third straight against their bitter rivals, they will need their cyborg in pads to perform at his very best while excelling at a multitude of positions, allowing Macdonald’s unit to dictate what the opposition does personnel-wise and not vice versa the same way they did late last season on the way to a Super Bowl victory.