Pregame from Arizona: All questionable Seahawks are playing at Cardinals
The Seahawks’ injury situation on this short game week got a lot better before kickoff in the desert.
All players the team had listed as questionable to play Thursday night at the Arizona Cardinals were active: Running back Zach Charbonnet, starting right guard Anthony Bradford and outside linebacker Boye Mafe were all ready to play the NFC West game.
Charbonnet missed Seattle’s win over New Orleans last weekend. He injured his foot rushing 15 times for 10 yards Sept. 14 at Pittsburgh.
Bradford injured his back against the Saints four days earlier.
Mafe had a toe injury in that game.
They played on top of Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon playing for the first time in three games coming back from a bruised knee ligament, and Pro Bowl safety Julian Love coming back from a hamstring injury. Love missed one game.
Nick Emmanwori still out
Rookie safety Nick Emmanwori missed his third consecutive game. He’s been doubtful to play.
He got a high-ankle sprain from teammate DeMarcus Lawrence falling on the back of his leg as Emmanwori tackled San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey on the fifth play of the season. The second-round draft choice coach Mike Macdonald intends to move all around his Seahawks defense this season hasn’t played since early in that opening game Sept. 7.
Seahawks running game a priority
Charbonnet and lead back Kenneth Walker were reunited to restart the Seahawks running game. That has been a priority of offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and quarterback Sam Darnold all this short week.
Kubiak’s reputation as a run-first, outside-zone play caller from his time as offensive coordinator at Minnesota (2021) and New Orleans (2024) precedes him. Seattle’s opponents this season have moved a safety close to the line of scrimmage, in a “stacked, heavy box,” to clog the Seahawks’ running lanes with an extra defender. Arizona seemed likely to do that Thursday.
This short week, Darnold intimated he has been changing some run plays to passes at the line with audible calls because of the heavy boxes, and perhaps not changing runs doomed to fail to passes when he should.
“We’re going to continue to (run), and that’s on me, as well, being able to make the right checks and get us in the right play,” Darnold said.
“But we’re going to continue to get better and learn from what we’ve been doing in the run game.”
The Seahawks had third-string rookie quarterback Jalen Milroe active Thursday, to run more of the package of plays Kubiak has designed for the third-round pick from Alabama.
But that running game was missing Robbie Ouzts for the first time this season. The rookie fullback went on injured reserve Wednesday. He injured his ankle in the second half of Seattle’s win over the Saints last weekend. The fifth-round pick from Alabama will miss at least four weeks, per NFL IR rules.
Practice-squad elevations
Before the game the Seahawks elevated from the practice squad nose tackle Brandon Pili and offensive tackle Amari Kight. Those moves were for depth, particularly with backup, swing offensive tackle Josh Jones out Thursday with an ankle injury.
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 4:05 PM.
