Battered, reeling Seahawks defense is losing another starter to injury
Already beaten up and ransacked, the Seahawks defense is going to be without another key starter.
It appears edge rusher Derick Hall will miss Seattle’s game Sunday at Jacksonville and “maybe a couple games,” coach Mike Macdonald said Monday.
He said during his day-after show on 710-AM radio the team is considering the bye the Seahawks (3-2) have Oct. 26. That is an indication Hall could go on injured reserve.
Players on IR in the regular season must miss a minimum of four weeks. If the team and his doctors assess Hall will miss the next three games (at Jacksonville, home versus Houston then at Washington Nov. 2 coming off the bye) the outside linebacker might go on injured reserve.
Hall injured his oblique muscle eight plays into Seattle’s 38-35 home loss to Tampa Bay Sunday.
Hall isn’t the only injured Seahawk in a defense that allowed 426 yards to the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield to become the first NFL quarterback ever to throw for 375 or more yards in a game with fewer than four incomplete passes. The Seahawks didn’t touch the Buccaneers quarterback until the fourth quarter on a sack by blitzing third-string safety D’Anthony Bell. Macdonald’s defense, his unit, the bedrock of the team, has allowed 55 points in 66 minutes over the last two games.
Bell, recently signed from the practice squad, was playing because Pro Bowl safety Julian Love was out with an injured hamstring.
Macdonald said of Love’s status for the game Sunday at 3-1 Jacksonville: “Sounds like we are going to be working through this all week.”
Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon missed his third game in four weeks Sunday against Tampa Bay. His bruised medial-collateral ligament in his knee was “getting imaged as we speak,” Macdonald said Monday morning. That was to assess the structural soundness.
“Hopefully we get him back” this week, the coach said of Witherspoon.
Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence missed the Buccaneers game with a thigh/quadriceps injury he got the previous week chasing quarterback Kyler Murray in Seattle’s 23-20 win on the final play at Arizona. Macdonald said his team is “hopeful” Lawrence can play at Jacksonville Sunday.
Mike Morris played his season high of 24 snaps, 39% of the plays, against the Buccaneers with Lawrence out.
Macdonald had no update Monday morning on the status of cornerback Riq Woolen. He left the Bucs game in the second half with a concussion.
Nehemiah Pritchett replaced Woolen. Mayfield and the Buccaneers targeted Pritchett on his second play, Emeka Egbuka’s touchdown past him in the third quarter. They went at Pritchett again in the end zone on Mayfield’s scramble and throw to Sterling Shepard that tied the game at 35 with 1:08 left Sunday.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold then got hit on by free-blitzing safety Antoine Winfield Jr. as he threw an interception to Lavante David with 53 seconds to play. That gifted Tampa Bay its winning field goal on the final play.
Pritchett briefly left the game injured but returned Sunday. Same with rookie safety Nick Emmanwori. Macdonald said Monday Pritchett and Emmanwori are OK.
Uchenna Nwosu’s time
As a result of Hall getting hurt, Uchenna Nwosu played the most he’s been on the field in the four games of his return from offseason knee surgery. Nwosu played 75% of the 61 defensive snaps Sunday. He also played six snaps on special teams.
He had four tackles and shared the sack with Bell in the fourth quarter.
Despite missing a game and playing less than half the team’s defensive snaps this season Nwosu co-leads the team in sacks with Byron Murphy and Leonard Williams. They each have 2 1/2 sacks
After the loss to Tampa Bay, Nwosu said he’s still not 100% healthy.
“Yeah, I’m getting there,” Nwosu said in the quiet Seahawks locker room. “I’m definitely feeling better than I felt last week, and the weeks prior.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2025 at 10:46 AM.
