But as excited as the Seahawks are about Emmanwori, what remains to be seen is exactly how the Seahawks plan to use him as a rookie. As a safety, Emmanwori is joining a position group led by a pair of returning starters, Julian Love, who earned Pro-Bowl honors two seasons ago, and Coby Bryant, who emerged as a defensive standout after taking over a starting job midway through last season. Neither of those players figure to come off the field much, if at all, as long as they're healthy, so where does Emmanwori fit?
Well for starters, Macdonald has shown a willingness to play three safeties together, especially during his time in Baltimore when that was a strength of that roster, so there should be plenty of chances for all three to play together. What should also help Emmanwori get on the field is his versatility. That rare combination of size and athleticism, as well as a work ethic that impressed coaches in offseason workouts, means Emmanwori should be able to line up in a lot of different places. Even before reporting for camp, Emmanwori has dabbled in several roles in offseason workouts, giving a glimpse of the multiple ways Macdonald could deploy him this season.
"There are a lot of things we're going to ask of him, and you're kind of in this phase now where you're exposing him to a lot of things to see what hits, what doesn't so you have a better feel for what you are going to ask him to do when we start getting close to game time," Macdonald said last month during minicamp. "But his spirit about it and attitude, I'm going to go do this drill today. Great. I'm going to do this drill? Awesome. Keep building those skills and keep training yourself to be the best player you can, and then it's up to us as a coaching staff to keep putting him in positions where he can do stuff that he does well. Like I said, we've talked about this at length, but just with a guy with that attitude that he's had every day is just really fun to work with."
Of course, all the excitement about Seattle's newest safety shouldn't take away from what the Seahawks have in last year's starters, Love and Bryant. Love has been a standout on the field and a leader off of it since arriving as a free agent in 2023, and has compiled 232 tackles, 22 passes defensed, seven interceptions, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in his two seasons in Seattle. Bryant, meanwhile, began the conversion from cornerback to safety under Pete Carroll's coaching staff, then blossomed in that role last season, winning over the coaching staff first with his play in practice, then on the field when he got his chance, taking over a starting role he would not give up.
"How can I complement Coby the best?" Macdonald said last month when asked about Bryant. "We talked about this to the team, and K.O. (Kirk Olivadotti) did a great presentation for Coby in front of the guys the other day. What stuck out to me was just his intentionality, and he cared about the minor details all the time even though his role wasn't a starter as a get-go. He has that chip on his shoulder naturally because he's just a great competitor, but those are the type of guys we want. They're not going to be deterred by things that are outside of their control. When he finally got his opportunity, he knocked it out of the park, and he's earned himself a great role on our football team. So you take all that effort that he's done and move that forward, and it's just been expedited. He's in a great position. I know he's playing really confident right now, and you feel him out there. So we're excited for Coby."
Whlie it remains to be seen exactly how the Seahawks will utilize Emmanwori in 2025, adding him to a group that already includes the likes of Love and Bryant will make safety an exciting position to watch in camp.