Seahawks Minicamp Takeaways: Nick Emmanwori Adding New Wrinkle, Zach Charbonnet Progresses
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Seattle Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori works through a drill with instruction from assistant coach Chris Partridge at mandatory minicamp. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum [/caption]
RENTON, Wash. - Launching the final phase of their offseason program, the Seattle Seahawks kicked off mandatory minicamp on Tuesday with the vast majority of players on the field, including the return of veterans Demarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams.
What stood out of from Day 1 of Seattle’s annual three-day minicamp? Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s session at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center:
1. Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba steering towards midseason form in the final week of the offseason program.
Crazily enough, Darnold and Smith-Njigba turned in a historic 2025 season combining to link up for over 1,700 yards and 10 touchdowns with limited practice time, as the two had never played together prior to hitting the field for the first time last April. But they developed outstanding chemistry seemingly overnight with the quarterback and receiver lighting it up throughout the offseason program and training camp before leading the charge for a top-five scoring offense on the way to a Super Bowl victory.
On the heels of that immense success, Smith-Njigba had some bad news for opponents on Tuesday, sending a message on the field and at the podium that the two stars expect to be even more in sync in their second season in tandem. After a somewhat quiet trio of OTA practices, the reigning Offensive Player of the Year jumped back into dominant form, starting with a nifty 20-yard catch on a quick out route where he managed to beat the quarter-quarter side of a Cover 6 look outside to make the catch before the outside cornerback could even blink, setting up a Jason Myers field goal in a two-minute drill situation.
“We really understand each other on the field and I understand what he needs from me,” Smith-Njigba said of Darnold, saying the Seahawks are truly his team this year. “So just to take another step forward is something that I always love and look forward to.”
Later in the session, manned up against veteran cornerback Josh Jobe, Smith-Njigba took an initial inside release before working his way outside of the hash marks on a fade route, gaining a few quick steps of separation. Ready to fire immediately as he hit the back of his drop, Darnold lofted a perfect bomb towards the front left pylon to hit the receiver in stride for six points. On the final team drill, he struck again, snagging a 20-yard post route over the middle from Darnold to set up another field goal as the first team offense got the job done throughout the day in a situation-heavy session.
It’s only mid-June, but for those wondering if Darnold and Smith-Njigba can come close to replicating the video game-like numbers they produced last year, signs on the field suggest they could be ready to take another step inflicting terror on opposing defenses.
2. Growing pains for Jadarian Price evident as first round pick continues to work on becoming a more complete back.
In the shadows of Heisman Trophy finalist Jeremiyah Love at Notre Dame, Price didn’t get many chances to make much of an impact in the passing game, particularly as a receiver. In three seasons with the Fighting Irish, quarterbacks only targeted him a total of 18 times, or just six times per year. While he turned 15 of those opportunities into catches without any drops, the lack of overall contributions as a pass catching presence out of the backfield stood out as arguably his biggest question mark coming into the NFL.
For most of his first offseason program as a Seahawk, Price has demonstrated reliability as a receiver, catching the football with his hands and not allowing the ball to get into his frame as some backs struggle with. On quick flare or flat routes, he’s been money, consistently seeing the ball into his hands without any issues. But when he has been targeted on routes traveling further downfield, however, his results have been more hit and miss, including having a wide open wheel route from Drew Lock bounce off his hands and eventually fall to the turf after a brief bobble along the sideline to wipe out a potential 25-plus yard gain.
During individual drills earlier in practice, Price had two other passes in his grasp on a Texas route and another wheel route that he wasn’t able to reel in, making it clear that he’s still got a ways to go to develop into a receiving threat beyond short, basic routes out of the backfield. If there’s a reason to be optimistic, he has caught most of the throws in his direction and the drops have been impacted by circumstances at times, with a gusty wind on Tuesday having an impact on his tracking of the football on the aforementioned wheel route that made the catch much more difficult than it would have been.
3. The next phase in Nick Emmanwori’s evolution appears to be wreaking havoc off the EDGE far more often.
Breaking in Emmanwori as a rookie, the Seahawks tried to employ a methodical approach out of the gate, not wanting to ask too much out of him as he acclimated to a complicated defense. But as he handled everything the coaching staff threw at him, it didn’t take long for Macdonald to start putting more on his plate, and by the time his first season came to a conclusion, he had logged over 400 snaps in the slot, over 300 in the box as a strong safety/hybrid linebacker, and over 100 snaps on the line of scrimmage, emerging as one of the NFL’s most versatile defensive weapons with nine pass breakups, 2.5 sacks, and eight tackles for loss.
Now entering his second season, Seattle looks ready to double down on Emmanwori’s potential as a matchup nightmare working off the edge to go with his myriad of other roles. The 6-3, 230-pound defender spent extensive time working with defensive line coaches throughout OTAs and that trend continued on Tuesday with him running through drill work with Demarcus Lawrence, Dante Fowler Jr., Derick Hall, and others in pre-practice, physically not looking out of place at all given his rare size for the safety position. In particular, he sought out advice from Lawrence as they popped dummies working on hand technique, looking to improve his craft shedding blocks at the point of attack.
“I'm just trying to evolve my game just like how the NFL game is evolving,” Emmanwori said after practice. “I'm trying to just be the front runner and lead in that way. So I'm working with the EDGEs and y'all seen D-Law out there giving me tips and trying to get me going in that lane.”
Without pads on, it will be a few months until the real rewards of Emmanwori’s labor can truly be seen, but early in the first team session, he lined up as an outside linebacker in wide-9 technique outside of the tackle and kept his outside shoulder free against a toss play. Rocketing upfield as he identified the run concept, he met running back George Holani a couple yards in the backfield before the whistle blew on what would have been a sure tackle for loss, firing up teammates and coaches on the sideline.
While he isn’t big enough to play exclusively on the line of scrimmage, Emmanwori’s ability to line up there in certain packages will undoubtedly create headaches for opponents, and that flexibility opens the door for Macdonald to be able to get rookie Bud Clark on the field along with returning veteran safeties Julian Love and Ty Okada, giving the Seahawks yet another dimension schematically.
4. Newcomer Noah Igbinoghene enjoys his finest hour as a ‘Hawk thus far, settling into Macdonald’s defense.
Joining Seattle as a free agent in March, Igbinoghene’s first couple weeks on the practice field were marred by inconsistency, as he gave up a couple of touchdowns in coverage during OTA practices while mostly playing with the second-team defense. But the veteran appears to be getting comfortable with what Macdonald and his staff are asking him to do playing both inside and on the boundary, as the former first round pick stood out on multiple occasions in Tuesday’s session.
On the second team drill, Darnold tried to test Igbinoghene on a fade route from Rashid Shaheed, but the corner stayed in phase with the speedy receiver down the field in his hip pocket. The pass wound up sailing out of bounds with the quarterback wisely putting extra air on it with the defender all over the route, celebrating with an emphatic incomplete pass gesture towards the offensive huddle. He later added a pair of pass breakups, including knocking the ball out of receiver Cody White’s hands on a contested comeback route from Lock, drawing approval from defensive backs coach Karl Scott.
After using three draft picks on cornerbacks in April, the Seahawks have a wide open competition ensuing behind Devon Witherspoon - who participated more in team drills on Tuesday after largely sitting them out in OTAs - and Josh Jobe. Julian Neal, Andre Fuller, and Michael Dansby have all had their own moments during the final phase of the offseason program, but Igbinoghene has first round pedigree and also has been a quality special teams player during his NFL career. If he can build off Tuesday’s practice and finish minicamp on a strong note, he may have an inside track to the third cornerback role once training camp opens in late July.
5. Four months post-surgery, Zach Charbonnet makes an unexpected appearance to work out on the practice field.
Up until Tuesday, while updates had generally been positive, the Seahawks had been pretty mum about Charbonnet’s rehab coming back from a torn ACL suffered during a Divisional Round win over the 49ers in January. He underwent surgery in late February, nearly a month after the injury occurred, which put him on a timeline that likely would prevent him from being ready to return to play until at least mid-October, if not longer.
But in a surprise development, Charbonnet took the field with an athletic trainer for close to 25 minutes at the start of practice, working through dynamic stretches such as shuffles with resistance bands and karoake. Under a typical recovery timeline from ACL surgery, such activity would start around 4 ½ months, putting the fourth-year back a month ahead of the curve.
Moving forward, Seattle won’t force the issue with Charbonnet, especially after investing its top draft pick in Price and signing Emanuel Wilson in free agency. It remains likely, if not guaranteed that he will begin the regular season on the PUP list and still miss a chunk of time in the regular season. However, if he remains on the same track over the next few months without any setbacks along the way, his current state of progress opens the window for him to be back in game action much earlier than originally anticipated, which would be massive news for the Seahawks offense.
