Seahawks’ secondary again without 2 Pro Bowl veteran starters vs Houston
The Seahawks continue to patch their secondary together.
It burned them against Tampa Bay. Their pass rush bailed them out at Jacksonville last week. Will it catch up to them against Houston?
The Seahawks (4-2) were without Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon and Pro Bowl safety Julian Love again Monday night when they played C.J. Stroud and the Texans (2-3) at Lumen Field. Witherspoon missed his fifth game in seven weeks because of the bruised medial-collateral ligament in his knee he got collided with teammate Josh Jobe in week one against San Francisco. Love missed his fourth consecutive game with a hamstring injury.
Riq Woolen came back from missing Seattle’s win at the Jaguars last week with a concussion to be active Monday night at cornerback back-filling for Witherspoon. Veteran cornerback Shaquill Griffin started in Jacksonville with Witherspoon and Woolen out. The Seahawks elevated Griffin off the practice squad again Monday to play against Houston. Woolen was starting opposite Jobe during pregame warmups.
With Love out again, Ty Okada was starting in pregame next to safety Coby Bryant on Monday night. Okada was making his third consecutive start.
The Seahawks have not had their entire starting secondary — cornerbacks, safeties and nickel defensive back — that they’d planned for this season since the fifth play of the season. That’s when rookie safety Nick Emmanwori got a high-ankle sprain from teammate DeMarcus Lawrence falling on his leg while the second-round pick was tackling San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey Sept. 7.
Other inactive Seahawks
Jalen Milroe was inactive against Houston. This was the second consecutive week the rookie third-round pick could only play as the emergency, third quarterback if starter Sam Darnold and backup Drew Lock went out injured during the game.
Seattle’s other inactive players: injured starting linebacker Derick Hall, rookie reserve linebacker Jared Ivey, rookie backups tackle Mason Richman and tight end Nick Kallerup.
This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 6:19 PM.
