RENTON — As the second day of the 2025 NFL draft began, Nick Emmanwori felt a mix of optimism and uncertainty.
A versatile safety out of South Carolina, who had wowed scouts at the NFL combine by running a 4.38-second 40-yard dash while measuring 6 foot 3-1/8 inches and 220 pounds, hoped to go in the first round.
He also hoped he might go to one of two teams he said he felt an especially strong connection with during the pre-draft process, especially in terms of how they might use him — the Seahawks and Bengals. He had official pre-draft visits with each team.
“The Seahawks or the Bengals for sure, I had a feeling maybe those two were going to pick me up,” Emmanwori said Wednesday.
But the first round passed with neither the Seahawks nor Bengals nor anyone else taking him.
As day two and round two opened, Emmanwori hoped — if not expected — that he wouldn’t fall far.
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Maybe, he thought, the Browns might take him to open the second round at 33.
But that didn’t happen either, and with the Bengals not picking until 49 and the Seahawks at 50, Emmanwori began to wonder what was going on.
“I wasn’t even sure what team was going to come get me, honestly,” Emmanwori said Wednesday. “That’s why the draft calls and stuff, I was kind of confused, like who is really calling because I knew Seattle had the later pick in the (second) round.”
Then the call he’d been waiting for came. The Seahawks had pulled off a trade to deal picks 52 (acquired from the Steelers in the DK Metcalf trade) and 82 to Tennessee to get pick 35 and take Emmanwori.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider said on the night of the draft that the trade was the only way to assure they’d get Emmanwori.
“Not sure how far he would have gone,” said Schneider, who surely knew of the interest of the Bengals. “Felt like 50, 52, felt like a far distance. He wouldn’t have fallen there.”
Emmanwori was not only relieved he had a home but also ecstatic it was in Seattle.
“I’m glad they came up and got me,” he said Wednesday. “Smart decision.”
One that looks more so by the day.
After a halting start to his rookie season — he suffered a high ankle sprain after just four plays of the season opener against the 49ers and sat out the next three games — Emmanwori has begun to show what all the fuss was about the last three weeks.
Emmanwori began the season pegged for a regular role in three-safety sets as a “big nickel,” able to play close to the line as essentially another linebacker but with the ability to cover receivers.
It’s a role the Seahawks explained to him during meetings before the draft, including an official visit to the VMAC in Renton. It’s a departure from his role at South Carolina, where Emmanwori played as a traditional deep safety.
It’s one he said he liked from the beginning, saying he feels it makes the best use of his wide array of skills.
“I can play linebacker, I can play safety, I can play nickel, I can play dime, I can blitz, I can cover,” Emmanwori said. “I’m a positionless player and I think (Seahawks coach) Mike (Macdonald) uses that and shows that off well.”
With an injury sidelining Devon Witherspoon — who plays the more traditional nickel role when not lined up as an outside cornerback — the last two weeks, Emmanwori has essentially been an every-down player in wins against Jacksonville and Houston.
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Emmanwori played 72 snaps in a 20-12 win over the Jags and 71 in a 27-19 win over the Texans.
He mostly lined up in the slot in coverage. He had a combined eight pass rushes and another 31 snaps in run defense, according to Pro Football Focus.
He played so well that this week that PFF has Emmanwori as the third-highest graded of all rookie players as well as third of all cornerbacks.
Wrote PFF: “Emmanwori has spent most of his time in slot coverage this season (115 snaps), where he ranks fourth in PFF coverage grade (79.9) among qualifying safeties and cornerbacks. He’s been targeted 15 times in slot coverage and has allowed 10 catches for 31 yards — the third fewest among qualifying players. That comes out to a league-best 2.1 yards allowed per coverage target. Emmanwori has also recorded six tackles from the slot, with four coverage stops. He has yet to miss a tackle.”
Said Macdonald: “Nick’s shown that he’s an every-down nickel, that can play and helps us. So, we’re great on the perimeter, on the blitz game. I think he’s still improving, did some good things (against Houston). He’s been great in man situations and in our coverages, as well. He’s been disciplined, he’s looking at the right stuff. He’s working at it every day, it matters to him. He’s been an asset for us, and he’s going to keep getting better. If he keeps the attitude he has, he’s going to keep improving, which is awesome.”
All giving early evidence that the Seahawks indeed made “a smart decision,” as Emmanwori put it, to move up to take him.
Schneider said at the time he felt like being able to get Emmanwori along with guard Grey Zabel at No. 18 in the first round meant “we felt like we added two first-round draft picks.”
The Seahawks took Zabel at 18 gambling they could still get Emmanwori and prioritizing filling an obvious need on the interior of their offensive line.
They wanted Emmanwori enough that they held discussions about ways to try to add a first-round pick to get him.
“Everybody was extremely passionate about it,” Schneider said. “If we would have come out of the draft without him, we would have been disappointed.”
Or as Macdonald put it on draft day about how they hoped to use him: “If you do it the right way, I believe it can be something special.”
His size led to some comparisons to former Seahawks standout Kam Chancellor. While Chancellor played primarily strong safety, Emmanwori’s ability to cover is showing he can be used all over the secondary.
Emmanwori said he heard different things from a number of teams about how he could be best used in the NFL but said: “I think Seattle probably had the best plan for me … a lot of teams probably wouldn’t really know how to use me, for real. They would just look at my size and they don’t really know what to do.”
If the past two games have shown that he may be able to live up to the lofty expectations generated by the trade to move up to get him, Emmanwori said there’s a lot more to come.
“I think I did pretty solid (against Houston),” he said of a game in which he had two tackles and two pass breakups while holding QB C.J. Stroud to a 61.6 passer rating when targeted.
“I think I’m just still getting my feet wet as far as like understanding cadences and just understanding the game of football and how it’s played in the NFL. So I think once I get a little more games under my belt I’ll probably be looking to have like a little breakout game, just a dominant game where I can show everything I can do.”
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.