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# Seahawks OTA Takeaways: Second-Round Picks Impress, One-Handed Catches Galore in Sixth Practice
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seahawks-otas-takeaways-nick-emmanwori-elijah-arroyo/
- Published: 2025-06-06T00:36:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:20:06.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Seahawks, Nick Emmanwori, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Elijah Arroyo, Jay Harbaugh, Ricky White III, Tory Horton, Ernest Jones, Organized Team Activities

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2500"\]

![  Seattle Seahawks rookie safety Nick Emmanwori attempts to corral an exercise ball during a special teams drill at the team’s third open OTA practice. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/img_4754-format-original-2.jpg)

Seattle Seahawks rookie safety Nick Emmanwori attempts to corral an exercise ball during a special teams drill at the team’s third open OTA practice. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum \[/caption\]

RENTON, Wash. - Wrapping up their open OTA practices, the Seattle Seahawks will now be full speed ahead to a three-day mandatory minicamp, which coach Mike Macdonald moved up a week with the desire to give veterans an extra week off before training camp opens in July.

What went down in the final OTA session of the spring? Here are five takeaways from the VMAC:

### 1\. Nick Emmanwori, Elijah Arroyo stand out with their best practices as NFL players to this point

Shortly after trading up to select Emmanwori with the 35th pick in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, Macdonald indicated that the team would move around the 6-3, 220-pound defender seeking the best fit for him, and so far, that promise has been put into action by the coaching staff. After playing quite a bit of deep safety and big nickel in the first two practices this week, the uber-athletic talent spent more of his time at linebacker on Thursday, including rushing with outside linebackers in individual drills and seeing quite a few snaps lined up near the line of scrimmage.

With those opportunities, Emmanwori flashed on several occasions in Thursday’s session, enjoying multiple chances to blitz from the slot or off the edge. First, he came unblocked from the nickel spot in the first 11-on-11 period, crashing down on Sam Darnold and forcing the quarterback to step up before a quick whistle was blown. He later snuffed out a quick screen and added a second pressure as a blitzer standing up outside the tackle, exhibiting all of the different ways Macdonald may look to deploy him.

Emmanwori wasn’t the only second round pick who had a strong day either. A featured target both in 7-on-7 and team periods on Thursday, Arroyo hauled in a deep post route from Darnold in a skelly drill that split a pair of converging defenders and added another 15-yard catch in the drill on a crossing route, plucking the ball out of the air with full extension like it was a tennis ball. Towards the end of practice, he found the end zone running a route down the seam, running past a linebacker in coverage and showing his soft hands catching a lofted pass from Drew Lock in a two-minute drill situation in the red zone.

Acclimating to the pace of NFL practices can take time for rookies, but Emmanwori and Arroyo both seem to be catching on quickly, and even when they have made mistakes during drill work or scrimmage snaps, they have been quick learners who have promptly fixed those issues. That bodes well for them to be able to make a significant impact in their first year with the Seahawks once the real bullets start flying.

### 2\. Lack of contest from defenders as a caveat, receivers made some eye-opening snags in team drills

Along with not being able to tackle or initiate contact in coverage, NFL rules state that defenders cannot aggressively play the football in coverage during OTA and minicamp practices. For that reason, any big plays from receivers in these sessions need to be viewed with that context, understanding that some catches may not happen when actual football is being played and defenders actually have the ability to contest the ball.

With that said, that doesn’t mean that outstanding highlight reel-worthy receptions don’t happen this time of year, and on Thursday, Seattle’s wideouts showed a flair for the spectacular on multiple plays during team drills. In the first 7-on-7 period, Darnold dropped back and fired a dart over the middle to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a 15-yard crossing pattern, and the throw looked to be a bit too far out in front of the receiver. But the former first rounder extended his left arm fully from his body and managed to catch the ball on his fingertips for a one-handed reception, turning upfield for big yardage afterwards.

> Bobo making it look easy. [pic.twitter.com/ktUTtR3voX](https://t.co/ktUTtR3voX?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) [June 6, 2025](https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/1930808008772383130?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)

Later in the practice as Seattle worked on four-minute offense, Lock took a chance firing a pass to Jake Bobo on a skinny post with three defenders converging on the receiver. Showcasing his arm talent, he managed to sneak the ball past the hand of safety D’Anthony Bell and with the defender partially blocking his sight, Bobo still somehow caught the pass with his left hand bracing the ball against his body, drawing cheers from the offensive sideline as he took off for the end zone to score a long touchdown.

### 3\. Clear-headed Ernest Jones on the mend, believes his best football lies ahead of him with new contract

While Jones’ arrival had a dramatic impact on Seattle’s defense after coming over from Tennessee in a deadline deal, the fifth-year linebacker admitted that the last several months of the season were brutal for him and his family moving to three different cities and having to learn multiple new playbooks along the way. In addition, after Thursday’s practice, he acknowledged that a nagging knee injury had been bothering him for the past two seasons, further complicating matters as he played through the discomfort in November, December, and January.

But by April, after undergoing a cleanup surgery to repair the knee issue and signing a new three-year, $33 million deal to stay with the Seahawks, Jones finally has found himself in a good headspace. Loving his new surroundings and happy to work with a defensive mastermind in Macdonald, though he has only done individual drills this week as he ramps up his rehab, he feels the best he has in a couple of years and believes that last year’s stellar play simply scratched the surface of what he can do manning the middle moving forward.

"I’m feeling really good. I’m getting back in the mix right now with the guys, so I’m excited. I haven’t been able to play by best ball, whether it be the knee or whether it be other circumstances. But I’m excited for this year, truly."

Aside from having high expectations for himself, Jones can’t wait to see what Seattle can accomplish defensively after the team finished in the top five in points allowed from Week 10 on last season. With all 11 starters from Week 18 back for the 2025 season and the additions of veteran defensive end Demarcus Lawrence and Emmanwori to the group, while work has to be done on the field this summer first to fully realize their potential, he envisions the group’s upside being through the roof without a true limit.

“Hoopers. I like us, man. I like us against anything and anybody.”

### 4\. A more experienced, reflective Jay Harbaugh loves new additions to special teams units

Coming from one of the most celebrated football families in the NFL, Harbaugh has the sport engrained in his DNA and had spent extensive time on his father’s staff at Michigan preparing for the opportunity to jump back to the league. Having previously coached with Macdonald in Ann Arbor in 2021, that chance finally came with the Seahawks last year with him being hired as the new special teams coordinator, presenting new challenges for him to sift through along the way.

Most notably, the NFL implemented a new kickoff inspired by the one used in the UFL, which forced every team in the league to learn and adapt as they went with only clips from the spring pro league to use as reference. There were positives and negatives for Harbaugh and the Seahawks adjusting to the rule change, as Laviska Shenault returned a kickoff for a touchdown against the 49ers but the team also allowed a touchdown against the Jets later in the schedule and several return men were rotated into action due to issues catching the ball and avoiding fumbles.

"The opportunity to reflect, that's what we all do after the year, which is awesome. It's everything in terms of the improvement,” Harbaugh explained. “Even the stuff that you feel like you did well, with enough time and you're really self-critical, you want to do even better. Every phase, really regardless of how it went, you're trying to chase those improvements.”

Benefiting from a non-abbreviated offseason and a full year of film at his disposal, Harbaugh has been able to dig deep into what went well and what needs to be cleaned up in 2025 over the past several months, learning a few lessons along the way. For one, he figured out that different skill sets would have more value under new rules than they may have with the traditional kickoff. He also learned to not judge a player’s special team talent based on past experience, as some of the better prospects coming out weren’t asked to do so for their college teams and have the skills to be impact players in the third phase of the game.

Still, that doesn’t mean Harbaugh doesn’t want proven commodities on kick and punt units. Appreciating that general manager John Schneider and Macdonald allow assistant coaches such as himself to have a voice in the process of acquiring personnel through free agency and the draft, he excitedly welcomed fifth round pick Tory Horton and seventh round pick Ricky White III to town as not only talented receivers, but outstanding special teams players as they begin their next chapter in Seattle.

At the college level, along with both players being multi-time 1,000-yard receivers for their respective programs, Horton returned three punts for touchdowns at Colorado State, while White impressively blocked four punts as a senior at UNLV and added a punt return for a touchdown. Each should be expected to vie for significant playing time on Harbaugh’s units from the outset, which could be the key to securing roster spots in August.

“Some guys can be great, they just haven't had the chance to show it yet. But those two guys \[Tory Horton and Ricky White III\] have put a lot of great stuff on tape. I'm excited to have them.”

### 5\. Even with several veteran rest days, participation remains high throughout voluntary practices

As far as prevailing themes go for the past week of open OTAs, the idea of these practices being voluntary didn’t seem to have an influence on participation for Macdonald’s squad. In fact, as Jones pointed out, while players didn’t demand for everyone to show up, they did anyway because of the desire to win another Super Bowl trophy for the franchise. To make that happen, the grind has to be fulfilled on the field.

"It wasn't something that we just sat there and said, 'Hey, make sure you're here,'“ Jones said. “But if we want to be who we say we're going to be, if we want to do what we want to do, and that's win, the best teams I've been around, OTAs were really good. I think that's just a direct reflection of the work you get in here and what carries you into the season."

If there was such a thing as perfect attendance, the Seahawks didn’t quite achieve that feat, including Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed, and Lawrence not practicing on Thursday. But over the course of the past four days, with veteran nose tackle Johnathan Hankins suiting up in the final open practice, every player on their 90-man roster was in town for at least one of the sessions, with the vast majority being involved on the field in some capacity.

Echoing comments from Jones and cornerback Devon Witherspoon earlier in the week, Jones believes the mindset has been established under Macdonald’s leadership where everyone holds each other accountable in that regard, with the unsaid expectation that they will put the work in necessary to achieve their goals.

"I think for this team, we're bought into the goal and the mission, and the goal is to put another banner up in here. I think everyone believes in that and we're going to show up to work and do what we have to do to make sure we get it done."