Seahawks camp 9th practice: Camp star Nick Emmanwori expected this; Devon Witherspoon wows
About the only things faster and more impressive than Nick Emmanwori at Seahawks training camp?
Devon Witherspoon. And the Blue Angels roaring over their heads.
Emmanwori, the rookie safety/outside linebacker/constant playmaker, happened again on Friday. Witherspoon made a play not seen around here since future Hall of Famer Richard Sherman was an All-Pro cornerback in Seattle and while the U.S. Navy Blue Angels fighter-jet pilots practiced overhead for their weekend Seafair performances. Meanwhile, Emmanwori furthered his star status of this Seahawks training camp.
First in the 10th practice, the precocious 21-year old stopped three edge running plays as an outside linebacker on the line of scrimmage. Running back Zach Charbonnet took an inside handoff expecting to run free around the right end. Emmanwori breezed through a missed block and bolted into Charbonnet — though not to tackle him, because no one tackles teammates in camp.
A few plays later in 11-on-11 scrimmaging, Emmanwori raced back 30 yards from being the safety in the middle of the field, into the end zone. He remained shoulder to shoulder with fellow rookie second-round pick Elijah Arroyo.
Quarterback Sam Darnold’s pass arrived. Both players leaped. The ball deflected off Arroyo’s hand. He fell straight down. Emmanwori fell in the direction of the deflected ball. Just before it hit the ground in the end zone, Emmanwori reached and corralled a remarkable interception.
The rookie quickly got to his feet with the ball. With the few hundred fans watching from about 20 yards away on a grass berm, Emmanwori celebrated his latest eye-opening play by spinning the ball onto the grass.
Witherspoon gleefully came over to celebrate — and to kick the spinning ball to the crowd.
Emmanwori had a huge smile when asked about the play, and the post-play.
“I’ve been thinking about celebrations throughout the week a little bit,” he said. “You know, I’ve been making plays, making turnovers, so I wanted something for the camera.
“I knew I was going to spin the ball. I didn’t know he was going to kick it, though.”
Meanwhile, Witherspoon made an interception Friday in red-zone scrimmaging that was reminiscent of Sherman on these same fields 10 and 12 years ago.
The 6-foot, Pro Bowl cornerback ran with 6-4 wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling down the right sideline, into the back corner of the end zone. Darnold attempted a back-shoulder throw, the toughest in the sport to defend.
Witherspoon did it brilliantly. He was chest for chest with Valdes-Scantling, contact the NFL officials visiting camp this weekend did not deem a foul. Then Witherspoon jumped with the receiver and turned his head and body at the perfect time to Darnold’s throw.
Valdes-Scantling had no chance to catch what Witherspoon did for an expert interception. It was one of the best of Witherspoon’s daily routine outstanding plays on passes in the air.
Emmanwori ahead of schedule?
Emmanwori said coach Mike Macdonald, safeties coach Jeff Howard and defensive backs coach Karl Scott had a plan to move him all over Seattle’s defense, “and take it real slow, and I was going to be playing all over the field.”
It was as Macdonald did a few years ago as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator coaching Kyle Hamilton, another 220-pound safety, into an All-Pro everything. Macdonald likened Emmanwori to Hamilton and to Seahawks immortal Kam Chancellor the night in May Seattle traded up 17 spots to draft Emmanwori.
So much for taking it slow.
Emmanwori is excelling as a big-nickel safety, a third safety in five defensive-backs schemes, playing nearer the line of scrimmage against the run.
He’s excelling as an outside linebacker blitzing and dropping into coverage off the edge.
Early this week, he picked off rookie QB Jalen Milroe and returned it for a short touchdown. He faked a blitz and dropped into coverage.
As Friday proved, he’s showing Macdonald he can also cover tight ends, tight ends who run like wide receivers, and wide receivers, too.
“Every day it’s been something a little bit new,” Emmanwori said. “But, taking notes, taking day by day, I’m progressing however fast I can progress.
“Which has been pretty good.”
The most new for him is outside linebacker. Emmanwori was primarily in the center of the field as a true safety at South Carolina. Macdonald has had him on the edge blitzing as an outside linebacker. Friday, the rookie was inside at linebacker next to starting middle linebacker Ernest Jones.
You know, “all over the field.”
He said he likes being on the edge of the line as a linebacker, “just to make more plays.”
He’s doing that. He’s “sacked” Darnold multiple times often looking almost unblockable off the edge with speed that doesn’t look like he’s 6-3 and 220-pounds.
“Coach Mike has been giving me a little bit of ‘tells’ of what to look for, my keys,” Emmanwori said. “So I’ve been listening to him, understanding what to look for and making plays off the edge, trying it out.”
Macdonald increasingly sounds like he’s trying not to make Emmanwori a bigger standout than he already is in this camp.
“He keeps learning. And he keeps executing and keeps making plays,” Macdonald said. “He’s got a great enthusiasm. Anytime you’ve got a coaching point for him, he’s very receptive towards it.”
The News Tribune asked Emmanwori if he is ahead of schedule, if he is learning all Macdonald is throwing at him in multiple, new roles more quickly than even he expected.
“This is exactly what I expected,” he said, “especially coming in with my pre-draft meetings, being open with them. They’re trying to figure out what type of player I was, but to myself, I always knew I’m a confident player and my ability.
“They’re still trying to figure out what type of player I am. They kind of know what type player I am. But knowing, I can play man. I can blitz. I can guard tight ends. I can guard receivers.
“Wherever they put me at, I’m confident being there.”
Still doesn’t knock
This spring Macdonald said Emmanwori was so thirsting to learn more positions and more scheme so incessantly, he needed to tell the rookie that when the door to the head coach’s office upstairs at team headquarters is closed he needs to knock. Emmanwori said that’s what he did at South Carolina, always upstairs bugging his coaches for more. He said he knows the NFL is more business-like, that there’s a supposed divide between players downstairs in the locker room and coaches in their offices upstairs, that the players and coaches “aren’t as tight.”
“That’s one thing I wanted to change (in the NFL),” he said. “But here in Seattle, that’s not the narrative. It’s real family-like.
“So I just like buggin’ him a little bit, asking him what’s going on. Life. Plays. Football. Doesn’t matter.”
Is Emmanwori knocking on his many trips up the stairs to the locker room to ask his coach now?
“No,” Emmanwori said, laughing, “I still don’t knock. I still don’t knock.”
Witherspoon, Emmanwori tandem
Emmanwori and Witherspoon have become a comedy — and big-play — act in the first week and a half of camp.
Wednesday, after intercepting Milroe, another brilliant feat of athleticism, Emmanwori ran to the opposite sideline, through the offensive players standing on it, to the fence separating the fans from the field. He posed for pictures and signed a kid’s football — all while the next scrimmage play began with the second-team units.
Witherspoon ran over and pantomimed taking photographs of Emmanwori celebrating.
“He’s, for sure, the life of the party, man,” Emmanwori said. “In the film room he’s always making me laugh. In the locker room we’ve been having a little bit of banter back and forth, just jokingly.
“But he’s great. He’s a great teammate I love messing with him and stuff, and he likes messing with me. I like ‘Spoon.”
Ernest Jones back
Jones returned after a few days away to deal with an undisclosed personal issue.
Saturday, Jones IV posted on social media that his father passed away.
“Give me some time, man... I’m hurting,” Jones wrote in honoring his dad.
He played in 11-on-11 scrimmaging for the first time this summer in training camp Friday. The coaches had been resting him from those for the first week.
Jones, 25, had clean-up surgery on his knee this offseason. In March he signed a three-year, $33 million contract to remain the centerpiece to Macdonald’s defense
Starting offensive line update
Olu Oluwatimi again took most of the first-team plays as the starting center. He has made a move to win that job this week, over Jalen Sundell and Christian Haynes.
Anthony Bradford had a second consecutive day of most first-team reps at right guard. As Macdonald thought he might when pads came on this week, the rugged Bradford has reponded. He has surged ahead of Haynes and Sundell for that starting job.
Charles Cross returned to camp after a day away for surgery in Los Angeles to repair a dislocated ring finger on his right hand. He was wearing a cast over it as he watched veteran swing, backup tackle Josh Jones start at left tackle for him. For now. The Seahawks expect Cross to start the opener Sept. 7 against San Francisco.
Tory Horton rises
Rookie wide receiver Tory Horton is 10 months removed from what he told the TNT this week was “a very dark place” emotionally. That was because a knee injury in early October 2024 ended his final college season at Colorado State, and put his NFL future in doubt.
Friday showed Horton seems light years removed from his dark place.
Seattle’s fifth-round pick shined again — this practice on the starting offense for the first time. He was catching passes from Darnold, including deftly toeing the sideline and getting out of bounds after catches during a 2-minute drill.
In that series, Horton joined Cooper Kupp and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Valdes-Scantling and Jake Bobo were with Drew Lock and the second offense in that 2-minute drill.
Extra points
*Veteran cornerback Shaquill Griffin remained away for the ninth consecutive day dealing with his own personal matter Macdonald did not disclose last week.
*Saturday is the annual mock-game scrimmage of special situations in front of paying fans and officiated by NFL game officials at Lumen Field.
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 6:00 PM.
