Field Gulls
Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar writes about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, we focus on Seattle Seahawks defensive back Nick Emmanwori, who has broken out in his rookie season to an extreme degree, and got all historical against the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday. If you don’t know, now you know!
If you’ve ever seen a band, read a book, or watched a movie before it got really big and the entire world got hold of it, you know that there’s a duality to the feeling. You’re happy that some gifted people are getting the attention they deserve even as you’re a bit bummed that it isn’t “your” band, book, or movie anymore… even though it still is.
It can be that way with draft prospects if you’re in the business of evaluating them. Once in a while, you’ll hit on a guy because he’s a physical freak, he has outstanding game acumen, he’s in the perfect system for his skills, or some unholy combination of all three. I’ve had my share of hits and misses in the *cough* number of years I’ve been doing this, but when the Seattle Seahawks selected South Carolina defensive back/game-wrecker Nick Emmanwori with the 35th overall pick in the second round of the 2025 draft, it was beyond clear that in head coach Mike Macdonald’s defense, Emmanwori could be weaponized as few rookies in this class could be, and right away.
The Kyle Hamilton discussions and comparisons have been done to death, but the thing about cliches is that they’re cliches because they’re true. This season, Emmanwori has lined up more often in the box (44%) and the slot (52%) than as the free roamer he was in college, but most defensive coaches will tell you that when you have a rookie in the building, it’s best to teach him to do one or two things your way before throwing the whole playbook at his head. Hamilton played 22% of his snaps in the box and 53% in the slot in his rookie season of 2022, so that checks out.
That said, Emmanwori has become more and more of a royal pain in the ass for opposing offenses, and this phenomenon amplified itself in Seattle’s 37-9 win over the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday. The rookie had a sack, five solo tackles, three stops, two tackles for loss, an interception, and a blocked field goal for good measure. The last NFL player to rack up a sack, an interception, and a blocked field goal in the same game was Adrian Wilson of the Arizona Cardinals on September 12, 2010, against what was then the St. Louis Rams. At 6’3, 230, Wilson was another one of those bigger, do-it-all safeties who could demean an offense from just about everywhere.
No matter what Emmanwori did against the Falcons, it seemed to work.
“Tremendous game,” Macdonald said of Emmanwori’s efforts...
