Seahawks Stock Watch: Who’s trending up, who’s trending down

Three weeks ago, the Seattle Seahawks were riding a franchise-best 12-game win streak.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba remains limited on Seahawks’ injury report

Now, the defending Super Bowl champions have suddenly lost two of their past three games – including a 32-29 defeat to the unbeaten NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Ahead of Seattle’s Week 6 road clash against the Denver Broncos on Thursday night, here’s a look at which Seahawks players are trending up and which are trending down.

Stock up

• DT Byron Murphy II

The 49ers entered Sunday’s game as the first team since 2005 to not allow a sack through their first four games of a season. Murphy put an end to that streak, sacking Brock Purdy twice in the first half. Murphy also teamed with Uchenna Nwosu for a third-and-1 tackle for loss.

Byron is back for seconds 🚨 SACKED.

📺: @NFLonFOX https://t.co/2Tcv5QgwkC

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 11, 2026

Murphy has 3.0 sacks and five tackles for loss through five games, which puts him on pace to eclipse last year’s 7.0 sacks and seven tackles for loss. The 2024 first-round draft pick also leads all interior defensive linemen with 15 run stops, according to Pro Football Focus.

• CB Nehemiah Pritchett

Pritchett helped force two of Seattle’s three takeaways against the 49ers. He delivered a massive hit on return man Jacob Cowing that contributed to a muffed punt. And despite playing a season-low four defensive snaps, he undercut a third-down pass to come up with an interception.

Purdy picked off and it’s Seahawks ball‼️

📺: FOX/FOX One https://t.co/BtkQco0P14

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 11, 2026

Pritchett has two interceptions and four passes defensed this season, and he is the No. 2 cornerback in PFF grading. He has seen his playing time decrease the past two weeks with hybrid defender Nick Emmanwori back from ankle surgery, but the third-year pro’s strong play may earn him more snaps going forward.

• K Jason Myers

After a rough preseason, Myers is off to a nearly perfect start in the regular season. He has made all 10 field-goal attempts – including two from 50-plus yards – and 14 of 15 extra-point attempts. He hit five field goals against the 49ers on Sunday, connecting from 49, 50, 43, 48 and 40 yards.

Stock down

• QB Sam Darnold

After missing nearly the entire first two games with a glute injury, Darnold has struggled since returning in Week 3. He ranks 29th out of 30 quarterbacks in ESPN’s QBR metric, and has completed just 64.3% of his passes for 755 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions.

The @49ers defense forces a FOURTH turnover today 🔥

📺: FOX/FOX One https://t.co/ULzc5zg1Nz

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 11, 2026

Among qualified quarterbacks, Darnold has a league-high 5.1% interception rate and is tied for the fourth-highest PFF turnover-worthy play rate at 6.1%. (The latter factors in additional plays that likely should have resulted in turnovers, such as dropped interceptions.) For context, even as Darnold committed a league-high 20 turnovers last season, his turnover-worthy play rate was 3.4%.

• The running back room

Ball security has been an enormous issue for Seattle’s injury-depleted backfield. Through five games, Jadarian Price, Emanuel Wilson and George Holani have combined for six fumbles, losing four of them. And the problem came to a head on Sunday, with Holani and Wilson both coughing up costly fumbles that led to 49ers touchdowns.

A disaster for Seattle 😳

The 49ers come up with a touchdown as halftime approaches.

📺: FOX/FOX One https://t.co/QlUkTKvddc

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 11, 2026

For the Seahawks, it’s a stark contrast from recent years. Zach Charbonnet never fumbled over his previous three seasons with Seattle, while Kenneth Walker III fumbled just three times and never lost one over his four-year tenure with the Seahawks from 2022-25.

On top of the fumbling issues, Wilson ranks 37th out of 43 qualified running backs at 3.4 yards per carry, while Holani has averaged just 3.0 yards per carry. Price has averaged 4.3 yards per carry, but he’s on injured reserve for at least another two games.

• The receiving options behind JSN

Reigning NFL receiving leader Jaxon Smith-Njigba is off to another torrid start, leading the league with 583 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches. However, there’s a massive chasm between Smith-Njigba and the rest of Seattle’s pass catchers.

The team’s next-leading receiver is Cooper Kupp (129 yards), followed by tight end AJ Barner (122 yards) and Rashid Shaheed (96 yards). The issue was especially glaring on Sunday, when Smith-Njigba had 102 receiving yards and no other Seahawks player had more than 24 receiving yards.

• CB Josh Jobe

Jobe spent much of Sunday’s game matched up against six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans. It didn’t go well.

According to PFF, Evans piled up six catches on eight targets for 98 yards and a TD when Jobe was the nearest defender in coverage. It was more yards than Jobe had allowed in any of his other 33 regular-season or postseason games with Seattle. The 6-foot-5 Evans also outmuscled the 5-foot-11 Jobe to haul in a pivotal 2-point conversion pass in the fourth quarter.

Mike Evans is just different.

📺: FOX/FOX One https://t.co/hzA357UCma

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 11, 2026

Jobe came up with the game-sealing interception in Week 1 against the New England Patriots and allowed just 23.3 receiving yards per game over the first four weeks, according to PFF. So, it’s possible that Evans was simply just a bad matchup for Jobe.

Seattle Seahawks news and more

• Seahawks activate key special teamer Irv Charles off IR, waive RB
• Mark Schlereth’s key to victory for Seattle Seahawks vs Broncos
• Macdonald remains confident in Seahawks CB Josh Jobe

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