How would Nwosu’s return impact Seahawks’ D-line roles?

Dec 6, 2024, 4:15 PM

Seattle Seahawks Uchenna Nwosu Giants 2022...

Uchenna Nwosu of the Seattle Seahawks sacks Giants QB Daniel Jones in 2022. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Seahawks’ surging defense is on track to add a major reinforcement for Sunday’s pivotal NFC West showdown against the Arizona Cardinals.

Seahawks Injury Report: Two starters questionable vs Cardinals

Veteran outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu, who has played only one game this season due to a pair of injuries, was activated off injured reserve on Thursday. He was a full participant in practice this week and didn’t carry a game status designation on Friday’s injury report, which points to him being available for Sunday.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald indicated as much during his Friday press conference, but said the team plans to limit Nwosu’s snap count.

“We have a plan for him to bring him back,” Macdonald told reporters. “He’s not going to be playing every snap. … It won’t be a full workload right now.”

Nwosu missed the first four games of the season with a sprained MCL and the past seven games with a thigh injury. He also missed the final 11 games of 2023 after suffering a season-ending pectoral injury. During his last full season in 2022, Nwosu totaled a career-best 9.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss.

Nwosu’s potential return would add even more firepower up front to Seattle defense, which has experienced a massive midseason turnaround.

If Nwosu does play on Sunday, how would his return impact the snaps and roles for the rest of the Seahawks’ defensive front? Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard was posed that question during Friday’s Blue 88 on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

Huard doesn’t think Nwosu would take away significant snaps from any one player, especially since Nwosu would likely only be playing a limited number of snaps. Instead, he thinks the bigger impact could be allowing a versatile defensive lineman like Dre’Mont Jones to spend more time moving around to different spots along the line.

“I think it may give Dre Jones an opportunity to slide up and down the (defensive line) – a little bit like Leonard Williams does,” Huard said. “I could see a little bit of that come into play. … I think it will add a little versatility.”

Jones has the ability to play both on the edge and the interior, but has primarily done only one or the other during his two seasons with Seattle. For the first half of 2023, he played almost exclusively on the interior. Then over the second half of 2023, he played primarily on the edge. And this season, Jones has again primarily played on the edge, logging 85% of his defensive snaps on the outside and just 15% on the interior, according to Pro Football Focus.

But with the return of a talented edge rusher like Nwosu, Jones may now have an opportunity to split time outside and inside, rather than being limited to mostly one role.

Huard equated it to when safety Rayshawn Jenkins returned from injured reserve two weeks ago. Jenkins’ return gave the Seahawks added flexibility in the secondary, which has allowed them to excel in three-safety sets with Jenkins, Julian Love and Coby Bryant.

“We’ve seen how cool this versatility is on the back end with Rayshawn and the safeties and all the moving pieces,” Huard said. “And now to maybe create even more of that up front and add more strength to a strength, that’s good news for the Seahawks.”

Listen to the full Blue 88 segment at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.