Latest on Nick Emmanwori’s injury, how it changes the Seahawks’ defense
The Seahawks aren’t sure when they are going to get back a key to how Mike Macdonald wants to play defense.
The head coach said Monday morning on his weekly radio show with KIRO-AM the team is awaiting further word on rookie safety Nick Emmanwori’s ankle injury during the opening-game loss to San Francisco on Sunday.
“Yeah, I’ll have more update later,” Macdonald said mid-morning Monday. “We’re not sure on the timetable right now with Nick.”
The coach said he’d yet to get an update from his medical and training staff as he talked on the radio at 9:30 a.m.
He said immediately following the game the team does not believe Emmanwori has a high-ankle sprain. That is ligament damage that typically results in a longer absence than a conventionally sprained ankle lower toward the foot.
Either way, the status of the second-round draft choice Seattle traded up 17 spots to get this spring is in doubt for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh (1-0). At least for now.
That changes Seattle’s defense.
It did against San Francisco.
Emmanwori got hurt on the fifth defensive play in the Seahawks’ 17-13 loss to the 49ers at Lumen Field. He was lined up off the left edge, as something of an outside linebacker, in one of the many ways Macdonald intends to use him this season. When the receiver opposite him went in pre-snap motion away, Emmanwori moved up. At the snap he ran unblocked into the backfield, off the right edge of San Francisco’s offensive formation. Emmanwori dropped Christian McCaffrey for a 2-yard loss.
As Emmanwori made the tackle, teammate DeMarcus Lawrence fell on the rookie’s lower leg. That twisted Emmanwori’s ankle under him. He stayed down injured. He limped then tried to jog off the field to the sideline and the blue medical tent behind the bench.
He stayed there for a while, then walked into the locker room as San Francisco marched to the game’s opening score without him.
Emmanwori ran better out of the locker room back to the sideline later in the first half than he moved into it. He was on the kickoff unit that ran down the field following Seattle’s tying touchdown early in the second quarter.
Then he talked to coaches and team medical personnel. He stood on the sidelines the remainder of the game with his pads still on but without his helmet.
Nick Emmanwori’s absence changed the plan
In the four snaps Emmanwori got in his NFL debut, he was aligned as a rushing outside linebacker, a coverage outside linebacker and, once, one of two off-ball linebackers next to middle backer Ernest Jones.
It was a glimpse of the varied ways Macdonald will use his rookie “safety” this season.
Reserve safety Ty Okada replaced Emmanwori after he was injured. At first, Macdonald tried to stay with his game plan of his fifth, extra defensive back being bigger to defend against McCaffrey and San Francisco’s run.
But Niners play caller Kyle Shanahan countered by throwing at Okada when he came on the field. The first time was Brock Purdy throwing to wide receiver Ricky Pearsall for a first down. The second time All-Pro George Kittle caught a 5-yard touchdown pass outside past Okada. It was a schematic mismatch.
That was enough for Macdonald to watch. The rest of the game, Seattle’s defensive play caller went mostly to a more conventional nickel arrangement. Okada played only six of 76 defensive snaps. Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon (100% of plays, as usual) moved inside to the slot and Josh Jobe outside as the extra DB. Jobe ended up playing 80% of the snaps Sunday.
That was not Macdonald’s plan. Witherspoon weighs a listed 185 pounds, maybe. Emmanwori is 220.
“We played the game lighter than we normally play against them,” Macdonald said.
Seattle held the Niners to 3.3 yards per carry for the game (36 rushes, 119 yards). Yet San Francisco dictated the game. The 49ers had a 38-minute-to-22-minute edge in time of possession. They converted 7 of 14 third downs.
“Nick’s a great athlete, great player. He’s going to be a great player in this league,” Seahawks Pro Bowl safety Julian Love said. “Him going out early adjusted some things for us.
“I don’t know if it’s being light with him out. But we anxiously, definitely, ready for him to come back.”
San Francisco finished with 384 yards to Seattle’s 230.
‘Frustrating’ end
The Seahawks gained 52 of those 230 yards on their final drive, then Sam Darnold lost a fumble trying to pass from the San Francisco 14-yard line, off the back of right tackle Abe Lucas. Nick Bosa pushed Lucas into his quarterback with 36 seconds left in the game.
And the Seahawks lost a division game they feel they could have, should have, won.
“We played really hard. Put ourselves in position to win,” Macdonald said Monday morning on the radio. “There were plenty opportunities that were out there that we had that we could have secured the game, probably, earlier, even at the end that we’d love to take advantage of those opportunities. And we’ll learn to do that. But it stings. It really stings. That’s a game that we feel like we should be able to win.”
In the locker room following their seventh loss in eight games to San Francisco, some players were thinking about losing again to their archrival they pointed all spring into summer to beat in Week 1.
“We had ‘em,” said wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
He had a big game with nine catches for 124 yards. He also lost a key fumble in San Francisco territory early in the fourth quarter.
“It’s frustrating,” Love said. “Obviously, they got the better of us today. But we feel very confident on who we have in the building. We feel very confident in the team.
“So, it sucks, to lose a division game early on, especially against these guys. But, we’re going to make the jump. It’s Week 1. We have a lot of new pieces. We’re going to get to that, hopefully next week.
“I can’t sugarcoat it. It sucks. You’re waiting all off season to play these guys and to take it to them. For them to come out on top is a tough pill to swallow.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 10:54 AM.
