Why Seahawks’ Uchenna Nwosu re-signed: ‘Why would I want to chance going somewhere else?’
Uchenna Nwosu could have played hard ball.
Seattle’s leading pass rusher last season could have said no to the Seahawks’ offer to extend his contract beyond it ending with the end of the 2023 season. Next spring, he could have become a free agent for the first time in his NFL career. He’s 26, in his prime at a position, pass-rushing outside linebacker, the league pays handsomely. Particularly after open-market bidding wars.
He did none of that.
He signed a three-year extension with Seattle two weeks ago, on the eve of this Seahawks training camp beginning.
“I want to be here,” Nwosu said, before the Seahawks had their ninth practice of training camp Sunday. “I don’t want to have the possibility of having to go somewhere else. The culture here, the young team here, Pete (Carroll), the connections of people I see all the time, it feels like a home here. It’s not too far from L.A. (Nwosu’s hometown), 2 1/2-hour flight. It’s on the west coast. The weather is nice. And I just want to be here.
“It just makes sense for me to be here. So why would I want to chance going somewhere else, when I’m right at home being here?’
The team didn’t exactly low-ball Nwosu. They didn’t take advantage of his affinity for Seattle and coach Pete Carroll’s players-loving culture.
The Seahawks paid Nwosu $32 million guaranteed, a hefty sum for this team. The deal has a base value of $45 million over the three years. It can pay up to $59 million including incentive bonuses.
It’s part of up to $124.5 million Carroll and general manager John Schneider spent this offseason to re-make Seattle’s defensive front seven.
They uncharacteristically spent $51 million in the first wave of free agency this offseason to make former Denver Bronco Dre’Mont Jones the Seahawks’ new defensive end.
“He’s just been living in the backfield,” so far in training camp, defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt said of Jones, who did it again on Friday night in the team’s annual mock-game scrimmage.
“Counting on that to continue.”
Seattle’s spending on defense
The Seahawks brought back Jarran Reed (two years, up to $10.8 million) after he was away two years with Green Bay and Kansas City, to be Seattle’s new nose tackle. They brought back Bobby Wagner after they sent him away to the Los Angeles Rams last year. Wagner got a one-year deal for up to $5.5 million to be the new middle linebacker.
And now they’ve retained Nwosu beyond 2023. Carroll is rewarding him for the example he sets for teammates, as much as for his production affecting opposing quarterbacks.
“Getting Uchenna back and the commitment from him is a really important statement for us, because he’s a perfect Seahawk,” Carroll said. “He’s hard-nosed, tough, smart, diligent, physical. He’s everything.
“He weighed in at 268 coming in; he was in great shape. He’s got a great attitude and you can see why we champion the guy.
“That’s the guy we want to reward. And he deserved it.”
Nwosu fell in love with Carroll’s vibe, culture and the Pacific Northwest last year. That was after he left his hometown Chargers to sign with the Seahawks in the spring of 2022. That two-year deal was worth $19 million. Carroll last year moved to a 3-4 scheme that matched what Nwosu did in more situational roles with the Chargers, and Seattle’s coach wanted Nwosu as an every-down linebacker in it.
Nwosu’s freedom from Carroll
Carroll saw during last summer’s Seahawks training camp Nwosu’s keen sense of offensive tendencies and skill at reading opposing blockers. The veteran coach gave his edge linebacker the freedom to decide when to go where on most plays, often away from his assigned spot in the defensive call.
Nwosu often charged straight up the field at the quarterback. Sometimes he slanted inside a slower offensive tackle into the backfield. Pretty much whatever Nwosu saw and wanted to do, he did.
The result was his career high in sacks, 9 1/2. That was sacks as many as he’d had in the previous two seasons combined with Los Angeles. He played 78% of Seattle’s defensive snaps, another career high. The Seahawks couldn’t afford to take him off the field.
Asked what it is about Carroll’s system that makes this a better fit for him than the Chargers’ similar 3-4, Nwosu immediately cited that freedom.
“It fits me because I am able to do what I naturally do, which is fly around and make plays,” he said. “It’s basically like not having any handcuffs on. Just go out there and whatever you see and be the best you can. Pete does a lot and gives me a lot of, you could, say freedom to be out there and be the player he knows I can be, which is a playmaker.
“And I like that about this defense a lot and I hope to continue it this year.”
Just don’t call it freelancing. Not to him, anyway.
“Not freelancing. Playing within the scheme of course,” Nwosu said, “but taking my shots when I can here and there if I notice certain things, formations, looks and being able to shoot my shot.”
This year, the Seahawks are paying — and needing — him to be a pass rusher AND a run stopper. That’s been the three words of this Seahawks camp: Stop the run.
If Nwosu has fewer than 9 1/2 sacks but is part of a run defense that improves from being 30th in the NFL allowing more than 150 yards on the ground per game last season, Seattle can be more competitive with rugged San Francisco atop the NFC West.
Hurtt has set out to change the mindset of the pass rushers, to be run stoppers first.
“You’ve got to earn the right to rush the passer,” Hurtt said.
Nwosu says he can already feel a difference in Seattle’s front seven stopping the run.
“(It’s) an emphasis on everybody buying in,” he said.
“We added some new pieces in the offseason, as you guys know with Reed coming back, Dre’Mont in free agency, and Bobby coming back. You got guys with multiple years in the system, so that all ties into the run game.
“We’re making a point from day one. That’s the emphasis on the whole defense, is not letting anybody run the ball.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2023 at 10:11 AM.
