‘I feel like myself’: Seahawks’ Emmanwori nearing full throttle

Nick Emmanwori’s seemingly limitless trajectory hit a minor speed bump this summer.

It appears he’s almost back to full throttle now.

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After playing limited snaps in his first two games back from July ankle surgery, Emmanwori wreaked havoc all over the field with a sack, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, a pass defensed and nine tackles in the Seattle Seahawks’ 30-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.

The 2025 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year runner-up played 56 of Seattle’s 71 defensive snaps after playing 36 snaps in Week 3 and nine snaps in his Week 2 season debut.

“I’m still getting back to my normal self as far as getting used to the game speed,” Emmanwori told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Monday. “But physically, I feel good. I feel like myself.”

DEMONWORI 😈 Loss of 11 yards on the sack. @3mmanwori

📺: @NFLonCBS https://t.co/ZnB6hxVkSE

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 4, 2026

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Emmanwori delivered one of the best performances of his young career, showcasing his rare combination of size, speed and athleticism with a slew of impact plays from a variety of different spots.

As a second-level defender, Emmanwori shot through a gap to hit running back Kimani Vidal for a tackle for loss, then later executed a perfectly timed blitz to sack Justin Herbert.

In coverage, Emmanwori raced to the flat to bring down tight end Oronde Gadsen for limited yardage on a bubble screen, and then later snuffed out a trick play to force an incompletion on a wide-receiver pass to Herbert.

And as an edge rusher, Emmanwori crouched into a four-point stance and exploded into the backfield on several occasions to apply pressure on Herbert. On one such play, Emmanwori angled around both the tight end and left tackle, which forced Herbert to climb the pocket into the waiting arms of Ernest Jones IV for a third-down sack.

“You’ve gotta remember, he had no training camp, he didn’t have a preseason, he’s had limited practice snaps,” head coach Mike Macdonald said on Monday. “Nick did a lot of great things yesterday, and he’s only going to get better.”

No time 😤 @ErnestJones SACK!

📺: @NFLonCBS https://t.co/0Alv03yx3k

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 4, 2026

Emmanwori’s increased usage as an edge rusher is the latest evolution in his game.

According to Pro Football Focus, he has lined up on the edge for 28.7% of his snaps this season, which is more than double last year’s 11.5% rate. And he’s rushed the passer on 14.9% of his snaps this season, up from 8.4% last year.

“I’m still figuring stuff out,” Emmanwori said of rushing off the edge. “It’s like a whole different game down there when you’re rushing the passer.”

Emmanwori has experimented with both a two-point stance and a four-point stance, but thinks he’ll stick with the latter.

“I just have a way better get-off and it just feels a little more natural to push out there and get to my top speed more under control,” Emmanwori said. “It’s something new, but it looked good on tape, so I’m gonna keep working it, trying it and developing it.”

Emmanwori’s performance on Sunday wasn’t without flaws. He drew an unnecessary roughness penalty for head-butting a player, which set up a shorter field-goal attempt for the Chargers. And he committed a third-down, personal-foul facemask penalty, which extended a Los Angeles touchdown drive.

Those two flags contributed to Seattle’s franchise-record 150 penalty yards.

“As a team, we play hard and ferocious,” Emmanwori said. “It’s a fine line that you teeter on. Sometimes you cross it, sometimes you don’t. But it’s just something we’ve got to learn from, (because if) we get to where we want to go later on in the season, those penalties will cost us.”

But overall, it was another highlight-filled showing from one of the Seahawks’ most talented and impactful players.

“Nick’s just evolving and continuing to get better (from) what we saw his rookie year,” veteran edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu said.

“You best believe he’s gonna keep getting better.”

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