Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori undergoes ankle surgery

Published 9:25 am Thursday, July 23, 2026

Nick Emmanwori spent, in his words, “a lot” of his offseason rehabilitating his ankle.

“After the Super Bowl ended, right, I recovered. Stayed in Seattle a little bit while everybody left,” Emmanwori said last month. “(I went) back to the East Coast, recovered. Do what I had to do in the offseason.”

The Seahawks’ do-it-all safety/linebacker played in Super Bowl 60 in February four days after he sustained a lower sprain of his right ankle in practice at San Jose State University. He played 70 of 72 snaps as the Seahawks dominated New England to win the Super Bowl. He called it then “a little scare.”

When he was participating in Seattle’s offseason practices this spring, when he said last month while practicing in minicamp “all good now,” Emmanwori was showing and saying he was past the ankle issue.

“Did rehab a lot,” he said in June, “just to fortify my ankle and make sure there are no problems right now.”

Turns out, there were more problems.

The News Tribune has learned in the six weeks between the Seahawks mandatory minicamp and players reporting over this past week back to the team facility in Renton for the start of training camp Saturday, Emmanwori had surgery on that right ankle.

A league source confirmed to the TNT Thursday morning Emmanwori had arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle prior to reporting to training camp in the last week, to get the ankle right for the coming season.

It’s the same leg Emmanwori also had a high ankle sprain on four plays into his NFL career, the 2025 season opener against San Francisco last September.

That surgery coming in July two months before the season begins, plus the relatively less-invasive nature of the arthroscopic surgery — a pencil-sized scope with a small incision into the joint — have the Seahawks believing their standout on coach Mike Macdonald’s top-ranked defense will play in the team’s opener. Seattle begins the NFL’s season with a kickoff game Wednesday Sept. 9, a Super Bowl rematch against the Patriots at Lumen Field.

Ankle arthroscopy recovery generally involves one to two weeks of immobilization of the joint in a splint or a boot, following by four to six weeks of rehabilitation. That’s per the Iowa Specialty Hospital. Recovery and return to play in what the specialty hospital calls “intense sports” can take up to two or more months.

So that’s why Emmanwori went on the Seahawks’ physically-unable-to-perform list this week. His issue is a little more extensive than merely precautionary, as originally thought.

NFL rules allow players put on the PUP list to begin training camp to come off it at any time to practice during camp. They have to pass a team physical to do so. In the meantime, PUP-list players count toward the team’s 90-man preseason roster limit, unlike players who go on injured reserve to begin camp and have their season ended.

Only players on PUP to begin training camp are eligible to remain on the PUP list to begin the regular season. In that case, those players must miss a minimum of the first four games.

Emmanwori’s move to PUP is a nod toward the possibility of him practicing during the preseason, and the team’s hedge if he doesn’t return by the end of it.

Back-filling Emmanwori

The man who stands to gain more by Emmanwori’s absence: Rookie Bud Clark.

The Seahawks drafted him this spring out of Texas Christian in the second round, the same round in which they selected Emmanwori last year out of South Carolina. Macdonald sees Clark as able to play similarly multiple roles as Emmanwori: an in-the-box safety closer to the line of scrimmage who becomes a strongside “SAM” linebacker when Macdonald uses extra defensive backs.

The Seahawks last season spent most of their defensive snaps in five- and six-defensive back sets, with Emmanwori more a linebacker. They allowed the fewest points in the NFL doing that.

To add to depth as a multiple-role defensive back, the Seahawks on Tuesday signed former Duke and Oregon cornerback Brandon Johnson. He played three games last season for Philadelphia as a rookie, though he spent most of 2025 on Philadelphia’s practice squad. He’s played in the box closer to the line of scrimmage as well as deeper outside in pass coverage.