NFL insider warns: 'No job is safe' with NIck Emmanwori in loaded Seahawks secondary

With the Seattle Seahawks having completely upended their passing personnel and spending most of their draft capital on offense, Mike Macdonald's defense has largely flown under the radar this offseason.

There's also the fact that Macdonald's tools on this side of the ball have remained pretty much exactly the same since the end of the 2024 season. With Johnathan Hankins recently returning to fill his nose tackle role, Seattle will be on pace to have every starter from last year in the lineup Week 1 - with the lone exception of Dre'Mont Jones, who's been replaced by veteran DeMarcus Lawrence.

However, there's one other major piece that's been added to this puzzle - in the draft the Seahawks traded up in the second round to take South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori, who's more accurately described as a do-it-all DB, having extensive experience lining up everywhere for the Gamecocks secondary. - the lone exception being just three snaps on the boundary.

That makes Emmanwori a candidate to put in time at every other position on the back end of Seattle's defense - and Macdonald is exactly the right kind of viciously-competitive nerd who will take full advantage of that ability.

While Emmanwori gives Macdonald a lot more options, it also adds competition at several different spots. Theoretically, Emmanwori could take over one day in the slot, deep safety or box safety, which puts the rest of the DB room on notice.

Mike Dugar from The Athletic seems to agree. In his post-draft outlook piece he says "Emmanwori and Arroyo have veterans in front of them, but no job is safe in the defensive back room."

This is correct, keeping in mind that "job" isn't the same as a roster spot - of which we can be certain Devon Witherspoon has nothing to worry about. While he spent most of his time in the slot Witherspoon does his best work roaming and he's a foundational piece for this unit.

However, the same can't be said for the last line of defense. In the middle of last season Coby Bryant emerged as a surprise ball-hawking free safety, resulting in a shift for Julian Love to the strong safety spot. Love is still under contract for three more years but Bryant is entering the final season of his rookie contract.

Given how well Bryant played down the stretch last year there's a case to keep him around for the long run - provided he picks up where he left off this coming season. However, the presence of Emmanwori will give the Seahawks a lot more pull at the negotiating table, not necessarily needing Bryant to field a really strong safety room. To be continued...