RENTON, Wash. – Seattle Seahawks nickelback Nick Emmanuel is questionable for Wednesday night’s opener against the New England Patriots, the team announced Tuesday. Starting safety Tai Okada is out with an injury.
Emmanuel, 22, had ankle surgery in July and was limited in training camp. In recent weeks, he has returned to the training field, but not as a full participant. He was officially listed as limited this week, and most of his teammates didn’t seem optimistic about his chances of playing in the opener.
On Monday, coach Mike McDonald said Emanwori was “really good” in practice, doing “everything he’s done” this week. On Sunday, linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who ranks third on the team in tackles (81) in 2025, emphasized how important Emanwori is to Seattle’s defense.
“We can’t wait to get him back,” Jones said. But for now, we’re going to focus on who’s there, who’s available now. We know he’s a stranger when his time comes. He can do anything.
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In the year Emmanuel, a second-round pick in 2025, also had 2.5 sacks, one interception and 11 pass breakups in his first NFL season.
Along with the league’s best scoring defense, he made life difficult for quarterbacks. McDonald’s favorite to use was as a slot defensive key in Seattle’s nickel package. Last season, the Seahawks deployed at least five defensive backs at a league-high 92.6 percent per TruMedia.
If Emanwori doesn’t play Wednesday, he’s not expected to be out long, which is why Seattle didn’t place him on injured reserve. That will keep him out for at least the first four games.
On Saturday, Seattle signed safety D’Anthony Bell to the practice squad. Bell made two starts in 14 games for the Seahawks last year, but finished the 2025 season with the Carolina Panthers. He re-signed with Seattle during the offseason and was cut on August 30 when the roster was cut to 53 players.
Bell will be promoted to Seattle’s active roster for Wednesday’s game and could fill Emanwori’s spot on the depth chart if needed. It can also help to replace okada.
“D-Bell has a lot of versatility, and it allows us to do things and put him in gaps sometimes, and he can multitask,” defensive coordinator Aden Durde said. “He’s a jack of all trades, he’s a master of none, no. He’s a great safety, but he lets you move him in the box.”
Besides Okada and Emanwori, the Seahawks have only one safety on the active roster, Pro Bowler Julian Love. Second-round pick Bud Clark replaces free agent Kobe Bryant, who is out for the season after breaking his ankle in August.
However, the Seahawks have four safeties on the practice squad: Bell; Rodney Thomas II, who suffered a hand injury in training camp but returned for the preseason; AJ Finley, who missed the 2025 season with a knee injury; And Maxen Hook, a 2025 undrafted free agent out of Toledo. The Seahawks could move up two players from the practice squad for the game.
If Emanwori doesn’t play, MacDonald and Durdey could turn to a cornerback like Avery Smith. The Seahawks acquired Smith, an undrafted rookie who played with Hook on Aug. 30 in Toledo, from the Los Angeles Chargers to replace a 2027 sixth-round pick.
“He has a lot of concepts with the Los Angeles Chargers, so he has an understanding of the defense. He’s pushing it, he’s running to the ball — the right kind of mentality,” Durde said of Smith.
Eighty-seven of Smith’s 137 defensive snaps (63.5 percent) during the preseason came in the slot, per TruMedia. At Toledo, where Smith was a two-year starter, he played as a senior nickel, field and boundary corner.
“I can play anywhere in the back end,” Smith said. “(I’m) a guy who really wants to win. So I’m just going out there and trying to make plays for the team.”
In the year On August 19, Seattle signed two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs, who is now on the practice squad. Diggs was released during the roster changes, largely due to his late arrival, and is a candidate to join the active roster in the near future. If Diggs enters the lineup, he will likely play on the outside, with All Pro Devon Witherspoon slotted into the slot.
Durdey said Sunday that he thinks Diggs knows the Seattle playbook well enough to take the field this time around.
“He still has it,” Durde said of Diggs. “He hasn’t played football in a long time. It’s a daily process of getting everything back under your feet and getting your body back into practice, and he’s doing that.”
