Atlanta game will be 1st time 2025 Seahawks defense is whole; Rylie Mills update
The Seahawks’ defense is becoming whole, just in time for a push to playoffs.
And for the first time all season.
The team is planning for Julian Love to play Sunday when Seattle (9-3) plays at the Atlanta Falcons (4-8). The Pro Bowl veteran safety hasn’t played since Sept. 25 at Arizona because of a hamstring injury.
Plus Jarran Reed “should be good to go” to play Sunday. Coach Mike Macdonald said that Friday following another full practice for the veteran defensive tackle. He’s coming off injured reserve and back from wrist surgery in October. The 32-year-old Reed played eight games through wrist pain before having the surgery.
The Seahawks will make transactions to add Love and Reed off IR to the active, 53-man roster by 1 p.m. Saturday so they can play Sunday. The team has two open spots on their roster waiting for Love and Reed.
“Exciting,” Macdonald said.
“We’ll play in accordingly (with Love). We have a plan, and we’ll see how the game goes.
Love had a setback in late October in training trying to come back from his hamstring injury, the first injury in the 27-year-old’s football life that’s caused him to miss games. That has the team cautious with a ramp-up plan to get him all the way back for these final five games of the regular season and potentially, the playoffs next month. He’s been a limited participant in practices this week.
Ty Okada’s strong play at safety while Love’s been out affords Macdonald options to pace Love’s return by limiting his plays against the Falcons.
“We’re going to stick to our plan,” the coach said, suggesting a “pitch count” for Love in Atlanta.
Sunday will be the first time Seattle will have all its starters on defense this season. Outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu missed the first game coming back from offseason knee surgery. In that opener Sept. 7 against San Francisco, do-it-all rookie Nick Emmanwori got a high-ankle sprain when teammate DeMarcus Lawrence fell on him. Later in that game Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon injured his knee.
As Nwosu was playing his first games of 2025 beginning in week two at Pittsburgh, Emmanwori missed the next three games and Witherspoon missed five of the next six. When Witherspoon came back to start the team’s win at Washington early last month. That was the week Love went on injured reserve.
Yet the Seahawks have remained one of the league’s top defenses. That’s been a testament to Macdonald’s credo that he has a 70-man, not 53-man, roster, counting the 17 on the practice squad he expects to contribute because the team will need them on short notice. Okada, starting linebacker Drake Thomas, starting cornerback Josh Jobe and wide receiver Cody White are examples of Seattle practice-squad call-ups who have excelled in a pinch to earn regular jobs.
Macdonald praised Love and Reed maintaining an optimistic, positive support mentality with their teammates during frustrating, start-and-stop rehabilitations to get back to playing. They were coaches on the sidelines during practices and games.
Reed continued his weekly leadership of gathering all Seahawks around him on the field and delivering pointed, fiery speeches to end warmups before each game.
“Pretty awesome,” Macdonald said. “We love them for it. You hate that they have to go through those types of things, but the team is just...we’re better because of how they handled the whole situation.
“Really appreciative for what they’ve done.” Love said he sees that as half his job.
“It was a lot of ebbs and flows. I don’t like it. It’s football season, I’m meant to be playing football,” he said of missing nine of the first 12 games. “It’s tough not to be out there.
“At times, I was pretty much like a cheerleader or a coach sitting on the sideline, and I didn’t know where I fit in. But then, I had to just chill out and tell myself that these people don’t appreciate you just because of the plays you’re making. It’s about who you are. It’s about the coaching points you have and how you communicate.
“That’s half of my job. I’ve just got to do that half.”
Sunday in Atlanta, he’ll get back to doing his other half, in the back of Seattle’s defense.
“There’s a bit of a chip on my shoulder,” Love said, “and a little bit of an ‘F U’ to anybody making comments to me about when I’m going to be back.
“I’m excited. Even if I’m making mistakes out there, I’m happy about it — just because I have the chance to make a mistake.”
Rylie Mills update
Rookie Rylie Mills completed his second week of practicing as a Seahawk since the team drafted the defensive end in the fifth round from Notre Dame this spring.
Macdonald and general manager John Schneider selected him knowing he’d remain out into late this season following his reconstructive knee surgery last winter. Mills got hurt in Notre Dame’s opening game in the College Football Playoff 12 months ago. It sounds like the Seahawks aren’t planning on this being a redshirt rookie year for Mills, that he has a chance to play in the last few games. And that he’s earned that opportunity through fiendish dedication to his rehabilitation workouts.
The team has by NFL rules 21 days upon his return to practice, until Dec. 16 in his case, to decide whether to add him to the active roster or keep him on IR the rest of the season.
“Riley’s doing a great job,” Macdonald said. “He’s working hard. He’s so strong.
“It’s just a matter of how many great reps can we bank before it’s time to come back (playing).”
Macdonald said Mills is in supreme condition, because of all the work he did in his rehabilitation from offseason training in the spring through training camp and the first 13 weeks of the season. He’s been a mainstay on the practice field taking mental notes and watching veterans DeMarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams teach him the intricacies and nuances of defensive-end play in the NFL.
“I mean, if you look at all the work that he’s been doing, it’s not like he’s just been sitting on the couch and now he’s grabbing his helmet,” Macdonald said. “Guy’s been working his tail off, you know?
“This week was big for him because we had some padded work (previous game weeks the team was not in pads). ... “I’m not worried about his conditioning. He’s in great shape.”
Quandre Diggs sidelined
The Seahawks injury report for the Atlanta game Sunday has only Mills and wide receiver Dareke Young out. They remain on injured lists, designated to return to practice.
Quandre Diggs is not on the injured list, but he has a thigh issue. That’s because the veteran, three-time Pro Bowl safety is on the practice squad, and those players don’t go on injury reports.
Diggs got hurt on a punt return playing special teams early in his return-to-Seattle game last weekend, the team’s win over Minnesota. The Seahawks signed him back as a free agent last week, after he season and a half away playing for Tennessee.
Macdonald said of Diggs’ status: “It’s going to be a week-to-week thing.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 2:50 PM.
