Matt Calkins: Seahawks' Nick Emmanwori gets a little help from DeMarcus Lawrence

Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times on Jun 12, 2026

Published in Football

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RENTON, Wash. — The Seahawks moved up 17 spots in the draft to get him.

And if they hadn’t, it’s fair to wonder whether they would have ended the season in the No. 1 spot in the NFL.

Seattle “safety” Nick Emmanwori may not have the profile of some of his “Dark Side” defensive teammates. He may not have earned second-team All-Pro nods like Devon Witherspoon, Leonard Williams or Ernest Jones IV did.

But the soon-to-be second-year Seahawk had about as much impact on that side of the ball as anyone wearing blue and green. Why? Near peerless versatility. There’s a reason his position is mentioned above in quotes.

He’ll go one-on-one with receivers while in nickel. He’ll blitz the quarterback, as he did last year en route to 2.5 sacks. And on the first day of minicamp Tuesday, he was drilling with the edge rushers for a time.

No, Emmanwori isn’t Travis Hunter, who would regularly line up on both sides of the ball for the Jaguars while healthy last season. But in terms of defensive utility, he’s the secondary’s sampler platter.

“Nick’s a hell of a player,” Jones said Tuesday. “Nick’s got all of the tools and abilities that anybody in the world could ask for.”

This is why the 22-year-old finished second in the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year voting last season, snagging seven first-place votes to Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger’s 40. And he accomplished this while missing three games and starting just 11.

The season stat line read: one interception, 11 passes defended, 2.5 sacks, nine tackles for a loss and 81 tackles total. They aren’t the kind of numbers that spark a double take, but when you consider he was doing double duty as a safety and corner, you realize quickly how valuable he is.

Now the question is: How much more valuable can Emmanwori be?

Sometimes star rookies experience a “sophomore slump” in Year 2, when their productivity dips below expectations. More often, though — assuming injuries aren’t an issue — they tend to get a sophomore bump. Witherspoon certainly did. Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba did. Same for Seattle defensive tackle Byron Murphy II.

What does Nick envision?

“I’m looking to just be more of a complete player,” Emmanwori said Tuesday. “A lot of the stuff last year as a rook, maybe after like Week 8 or 9, I started noticing formations and stuff, so Week 1 (this season), I’m trying to notice stuff and be ahead of the game so I can play fast, make more plays, finish more and more impactful plays.”

That same day, Emmanwori was asked if he was surprised by how everything turned out his rookie season — Super Bowl trophy, individual accolades, etc. — or if it was about as he expected. He said the latter. The South Carolina product is accustomed to success, so the shellacking his defense gave opponents last season was hardly a shock.

But greatness in sports is typically defined by what you repeatedly do — not by what you do in one season. So both the Seahawks and Emmanwori need to improve in a league brimming with teams hoping to deny them back-to-back titles.

How does Nick do that?

“The next step would be the classroom, just taking steps as far as knowing what plays are before him,” Jones added Tuesday. “Nick’s a student of the game, Nick’s been doing that, so I expect him to be dominant again.”

NFL classrooms come in different forms, though. Sometimes they have four walls and rows of seats, sometimes they’re on grass fields chalked with yard lines and hash marks.

While working with the edge rushers Tuesday, Emmanwori’s lessons came from veteran linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence. Nick wasn’t too elaborative when it came to the 12-year veteran’s tips, but he was appreciative. And he certainly wasn’t scared of being uncomfortable.

“A lot of guys would be afraid to put themselves in a situation where they don’t necessarily look like they know that they’re, like, great at it yet. (Emmanwori) is OK being in that kind of gray area,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “Now he’s got a sense of urgency to get there. He’s not afraid to jump head first, so to speak.”

Some might wonder if the Seahawks can match what they did last season, when they led the NFL in fewest points allowed. But there are a lot of young players to suggest they might get even better.

Emmanwori is certainly one of them. Jack of all trades for now. Perhaps a master by year’s end.