{"id":332478,"date":"2025-12-08T14:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T14:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/332478\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T14:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T14:01:09","slug":"the-case-for-seahawks-nick-emmanwori-as-nfl-rookie-of-the-year-its-roaring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/332478\/","title":{"rendered":"The case for Seahawks\u2019 Nick Emmanwori as NFL rookie of the year? It\u2019s roaring"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man who up to now has been the do-it-all best player on the Seahawks defense said it…best.<\/p>\n

\u201cBro\u2019s playing his ass off right now,\u201d two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon said Sunday. He was talking about teammate Nick Emmanwori.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s nothing he can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Seahawks and the league list Emmawori as a safety. That\u2019s almost an insult to the dynamic rookie. He\u2019s redefining his own position \u2014 and status already across the NFL \u2014 with each game.<\/p>\n

Sunday in Seattle\u2019s 37-9 obliteration of the Falcons,<\/a> the safety\/slot nickel back\/outside linebacker\/inside linebacker\/blitzer\/run stopper\/defensive end filled nine of the 11 official statistics the league uses to measure a defensive player\u2019s performance in a game.<\/p>\n

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Emmanwori had six tackles. He had a sack of Kirk Cousins. He intercepted Cousins in the third quarter, off a play Witherspoon deftly started by fooling Cousins with a fake blitz into the line. Witherspoon backed off into Cover 2, two-deep-safety pass coverage, then jumped the stick route Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts ran on a curl in front of him. Witherspoon tapped the ball into the air. Emmanwori dived to catch it for his first career interception.<\/p>\n

Seattle turned that into a field goal by Jason Myers, part of a 17-0 streak early in the third quarter that turned the game into a rout.<\/p>\n

Emmanwori also had two tackles for loss, a hit on Cousins and a pass defensed. He played 91% of the defensive snaps, almost all until the end of the game when Macdonald rested his starters. The rookie was a moveable chess piece check-mating Atlanta\u2019s many formations with three tight ends.<\/p>\n

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He and Witherspoon \u2014 plus elite middle linebacker Ernest Jones with Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence and Byron Murphy dominating on the defensive line \u2014are why the Seahawks are 10-3 vying with the Rams (10-3) and 49ers (9-4) for the NFC West title. If Seattle wins its final four games, it will win the division for the first time since 2020, and have the NFC\u2019s top playoff seed. The Seahawks\u2019 path to that is treacherous. It includes the Rams (Dec. 18 at Lumen Field) and at San Francisco (in the regular-season finale). The next game is Sunday against Indianapolis. The Colts (8-5) have lost four of five games, and Sunday lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones to an Achilles injury. Rookie Riley Leonard is readying to start in Seattle this weekend. He will be the third consecutive rookie or backup QB, or both, this rampaging Seahawks defense has faced.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve dominated the other two, Cam Ward in Tennessee and veteran Cousins in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cPffft…this defense special,\u201d Emmanwori said. \u201cThis is defense is super special. This is probably one of the best defenses I\u2019ve ever played on. I\u2019m just a rookie, but I don\u2019t think no defense can probably top this, honestly. We\u2019ve got a lot of special dudes on this team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFrom the first level, the D-line, to the linebackers and secondary, like, I think this defense is historic, almost. People don\u2019t want to…they shy away from saying it. But I really do think this is a special defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, yeah, Emmanwori also blocked a field goal. After he made a tackle near the line of scimmage on Falcons lead back Bijan Robinson to begin a series of downs, he ended it by racing off the edge with perfect timing to back down Zane Gonalez\u2019s 50-yard try to break a 3-3 tie in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

It was special-teams coach Jay Harbaugh\u2019s idea to put the long, fast, determined Emmanwori on the edge of the field-goal block team at the start of this season. Another win for Harbaugh, who also got Rashid Shaheed\u2019s 100-yard kickoff return for the game-turning touchdown at the start of the second half Sunday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what, you watch our field-goal block unit, really proud of the effort in there. That\u2019s a great indicator of your effort on your football team,\u201d Macdonald said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick brings it every time. …I\u2019m really happy for Nick because he\u2019s really been ripping it on field goal block. He\u2019s come so close for a while now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emmanwori became the first Seahawks player to block a field goal, have a sack and intercept a pass in the same game. He\u2019s the first NFL player to do that in 15 years, since the Cardinals\u2019 Adrian Wilson did it<\/a> Sept. 12, 2010, against the then-St. Louis Rams.<\/p>\n

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Seattle Pro Bowl defensive end Leonard Williams had a sack, intercepted a pass and blocked an extra point (not a field goal) last December in a Seahawks win at the Jets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTremendous game. We gave out some game balls, and he got one of the game balls,\u201d Macdonald said. \u201cI\u2019m really happy for him. He\u2019s worked his tail off. He really has. He does it every day. He\u2019s a tremendous asset for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re playing him against \u201813\u2019 (one back, three tight ends) personnel in the area, he\u2019s throwing his stuff in there.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m happy for him, and he\u2019s got a great attitude. Happy for him. He deserves it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Nick Emmanwori (3) of the Seattle Seahawks reacts after a defensive stop against the Atlanta Falcons during the second quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 7, 2025 in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Emmanwori, rookie of the year?<\/p>\n

His Sunday in Atlanta makes Emmanwori a strong candidate to be the NFL\u2019s defensive rookie of the year.<\/p>\n

Who else new in the league is doing more already?<\/p>\n

Cleveland middle linebacker Carson Schwesinger has been getting national attention for being a tackling machine. He almost never comes off the field for the Browns. He had another 12 tackles playing all 66 defensive snaps Sunday in Cleveland\u2019s home loss to two-win Tennessee.<\/p>\n

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The Browns are 3-10. Emmanwori and the Seahawks smacked the Titans<\/a> in Nashville a couple weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Abdul Carter is getting a lot of looks, largely because he was the third pick in the draft and he plays in New York. He has as many sacks as Emmanwori does (1 1\/2), and plays for the cruddy Giants (2-11). Atlanta\u2019s Jalen Walker has five sacks for a 4-9 team. The 15th pick in the draft plays about four fewer positions than Emmanwori plays. While Emmanwori was starring Sunday, Walker didn\u2019t have a statistic in the Seahawks game. He left in the second quarter<\/a> with a quadriceps injury.<\/p>\n

Jaxon Smith-Njigba knows who he\u2019d vote for to be the league\u2019s rookie of the year.<\/p>\n

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The NFL\u2019s leader in yards receiving with 1,429 has been giving Emmanwori static since the day the rookie showed up to guard him in the first organized team activities (OTAs) seven months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yeah, I talk a lot of crap to Nick,\u201d Smith-Njigba said in Atlanta following his two-touchdown game Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the rookie I\u2019ve kind of been picking on.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I tell him he can be a legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not rookie of the year. A legend. Again, Emmanwori is just 10 games into his career.<\/p>\n

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Then Smith-Njigba, a sage third-year veteran at the ripe old age of 23, added: \u201cBut, yeah, I\u2019m on him until, probably, next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Nick Emmanwori (3) of the Seattle Seahawks reacts after a interception during the third quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 7, 2025 in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

More versatile than Kyle Hamilton<\/p>\n

This spring the Seahawks traded up 17 spots to the top of the second round to draft the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Emmanwori<\/a> out of South Carolina. In college he played primarily off the ball, deeper more as a traditional safety.<\/p>\n

Coach Mike Macdonald said the night they drafted him seven months ago the Seahawks envisioned using Emmanwori like Macdonald used 6-4, 220-pound Kyle Hamilton as the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator in 2022 and \u201823. That is, all over the back of the defense, as a hybrid linebacker and matchup nightmare for opposing receivers and offensive play callers.<\/p>\n

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The comparison Macdonald made in May was striking, since Emmanwori had yet to have an NFL practice, let alone a game.<\/p>\n

Now, 10 games in (Emmanwori missed three games starting in September with a high-ankle sprain he got on the fourth play of his career), he has surpassed what the All-Pro Hamilton does. He is doing more than Baltimore\u2019s $100 million star.<\/p>\n

Emmanwori is playing on all three levels of Seattle\u2019s defense. Against Minnesota the week before his Atlanta show, Emmanwori played seven of his 50 snaps as a defensive end (!) on the line.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI saw it one time when he blitzed in training camp,\u201d Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde said of Emmanwori\u2019s end-like bend and dip into offensive linemen in his pass rush. \u201cHe dipped and ghosted the guy on the edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Mike were like, \u2018That was pretty cool!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more like you see in practice what he can do,\u201d Durde said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing he can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re all saying that.<\/p>\n

\"Seattle<\/p>\n

Seattle Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori (3) reacts to a stop against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the third quarter of the game at Lumen Field, on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Seattle.<\/p>\n

The only thing Emmanwori did not do to Atlanta was force and recover a fumble. Witherspoon did that for him. That was part of Seattle\u2019s three takeaways in the second half, which turned a 6-6 slog at halftime into a 31-3 Seahawks runaway in the final two quarters. Witherspoon just laughed on his way out of Georgia Sunday evening at how great Emmanwori was Sunday, and has been all season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s strong. He\u2019s physical, bruh,\u201d Witherspoon said through the chuckle. \u201cI don\u2019t know, it\u2019s just a loss for words.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he had a helluva game today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just like he had a hell of a practice Friday. And Thursday. And Wednesday…<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always talk about, \u2018You\u2019re going to have a great game, but don\u2019t let the game get to you. It\u2019s just, another play,\u2019\u201d Witherspoon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do that all the time. We make those plays in practice. And when it happens in the game, you know, it\u2019s just another play to you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man who up to now has been the do-it-all best player on the Seahawks defense said it…best.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[3162,146419,505,1742,19206,136769,49,2223,48,1761,4850,1765,14622,81770,80234,38387,3844,87457,29901,1769,25175,1311,89821,146418,2598,514,7259,29892,46942,5886,13280,7675,82,1445],"class_list":["post-332478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-abdul-carter","tag-adrian-wilson","tag-atlanta","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-bijan-robinson","tag-byron-murphy","tag-ca","tag-cam-ward","tag-canada","tag-carson-schwesinger","tag-cleveland","tag-daniel-jones","tag-demarcus-lawrence","tag-devon-witherspoon","tag-ernest-jones","tag-field-goal","tag-indianapolis","tag-jason-myers","tag-jaxon-smith-njigba","tag-kirk-cousins","tag-kyle-hamilton","tag-kyle-pitts","tag-leonard-williams","tag-macdonald","tag-minnesota","tag-nfl","tag-nick-emmanwori","tag-rashid-shaheed","tag-riley-leonard","tag-san-francisco","tag-seahawks","tag-seattle","tag-sports","tag-tennessee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}