Big Picture: Versatile Nick Emmanwori Is Everywhere for Dominant Seahawks Defense

The Seattle Seahawks are one home win away from a Super Bowl, and rookie Nick Emmanwori is everywhere.

The second-round rookie from South Carolina is listed on the roster as a safety, but his one-of-a-kind versatility defies any single positional label.

By one count, he's only played 15 snaps as a true safety. He has more than 300 as a slot corner, more than 250 as a linebacker, about 30 as an outside cornerback and about 60 as an edge rusher. Emmanwori is the new model for today's NFL hybrid defender, so when analysts talk about his off-the-charts athleticism, they use words like "alien," "mutant" and "freak."

Seattle's defense is a big part of why the Seahawks have won eight games in a row, holding opponents to 10 points or fewer in five of those wins. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Emmanwori can do it all, as the only player in the entire league to have more than two sacks, more than eight tackles for loss and more than 10 pass breakups. And he won't even turn 22 the day before the Super Bowl.

"It's the best feeling in the world to come in as a rookie and be a force on the No. 1 defense in the NFL," Emmanwori told me by phone after a practice ahead of Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Rams (6:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

Emmanwori (it's a long E, so it rhymes with He-Man) had a rare combination of measurables at last year's NFL combine with a 42-inch vertical leap, 4.38 speed in the 40-yard dash and 24 reps at 225 pounds on the bench press. During the draft, Seattle liked him enough to trade second- and third-round picks to move up and pick him at No. 35 overall.

Just four snaps into his NFL debut, Emmanwori sustained a high ankle sprain that sidelined him the next three games. Since then, he's been all over Seattle's defense. Consider a December game against Atlanta, when he managed to block a field goal, intercept a pass and sack the opposing quarterback. He became the first player to complete that trifecta in Seahawks history.

"He's worked his tail off. He really has," Macdonald said after that game. "He does it every day. He's a tremendous asset for us ...  I'm happy for him, and he's got a great attitude. He deserves it."

NFL coaches will call a player like Emmanwori a "chess piece," a weapon that can attack in any direction. During his time as Ravens defensive coordinator before getting the head-coaching job in Seattle, Macdonald had a similar player in safety Kyle Hamilton, who's arguably the best at his position in the NFL.

"I think that's the dream for any coach, to find a player that can literally do anything," Emmanwori said. "Within our scheme, can be physical with tight ends, cover tight ends, cover receivers, cover running backs out of the backfield, whatever they need in one of the most unique defenses in the NFL."

What might be more incredible is the time Emmanwori puts in during the week to prepare himself for situational roles on all three levels of Seattle's defense, ducking in and out of as many as five position meetings in the course of game-week preparation.

"I have my own personal schedule," Emmanwori said. "I'll be with the edge coach and watch some edge film, and then another meeting, I'm watching safety/nickel film, and then I'll go to another meeting and see blitz patterns and how to win on this blitz rush and watch the linebacker tape and how to fill gaps and stay square. It's a little bit of everywhere. Even during (individual drills in practice), I'll go work with edges a little bit, then the linebackers, come with the DBs at the end, working man (coverage) and press man."

South Carolina coaches had recognized Emmanwori's versatility from literally the first day they saw him. He went to one of their camps as a high school junior, and defensive coordinator Clayton White started him out with the linebackers.

"He came to my drill for five minutes, and part of my drill was backpedaling, and I said 'Ooh! That's a nice backpedal,'" White told me over the phone. "So, I sent him over to the DBs coach, and then he high-pointed the football, broke-and-drive, and then he had a pick in one-on-ones against some really good competition. So, Day 1, we knew all about his versatility."

Emmanwori rarely blitzed in college and didn't have a single sack in three seasons at South Carolina, so that has been the newest part of his game. It has quickly gone from an uncertainty to a source of confidence.

"The first time in camp they blitzed me, I made a crazy ghost move and made the tackle lose balance and I got to the quarterback in like a second," he said. "Every time I blitz, I've been so close to getting to the quarterback. It's all over the tape."

Which NFL safeties does Emmanwori like to watch and model himself after? It starts with Hamilton, as well as Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. and Browns safety Grant Delpit.

"Watching (Hamilton) when I was in college and he was in the NFL, that was the first dude I ever saw," Emmanwori said. "Him and Derwin caught my eyes as, 'This is what I can do. I know when I get to the league, that's the exact role I can do.' I'm still growing into that."

Hamilton messaged him with congratulations after the draft, and they texted back and forth about playing for Macdonald. Emmanwori also has the same agent as James, with whom he has been in touch.

Macdonald has said he's never had a player like Emmanwori. So, as the season has unfolded, they've had the confidence to extend his limitations and try him in situations outside a normal comfort zone, consistently pleased with just how much he can handle.

"We had him at 9-technique, 5-technique, he's playing the slot," Macdonald said in December. "We're putting a lot on his plate. That's part of my message to him, 'You've got a lot on your plate, there's a lot of expectations, and rightfully so, you've earned those opportunities. Go prepare your tail off so you can play the brand of ball you want to play. Then go let it rip, and if something happens throughout the game, we'll fix it or we'll put you out of that situation, but just go to the next one and keep rolling.'"

How does he process all of that as a rookie? His father, Legun, is an engineering professor teaching thermodynamics at South Carolina State, and he studied psychology in his three years at South Carolina. White knows a thing or two about smart defensive backs, as he was Richard Sherman's first cornerbacks coach at Stanford, and appreciates how Emmanwori's brain works on the field.

"He didn't miss a check in three years, didn't forget a call," White said. "I can call him right now, and I promise you he can still go through all of our calls. He's a special human being that way, a different guy.

"When he was coming out, we tried to tell the scouts and they'd just write it down, hard-to-believe stuff. I'm telling you, this guy's different when it comes to learning. He's a historian on the low, knows history. If there was a pop quiz in the special teams room about who won this war, Nick is the one who would raise his hand and get it correct."

Seattle goes into Sunday's game against the Rams high on confidence, especially defensively, having given up the fewest points in the league.

"We're extremely confident -- the way we talk in the locker room, super-optimistic and thinking for the future but being where our feet are, too," Emmanwori said. 

"There's not a lick of doubt in our room, with a bunch of alpha males. How can you not be confident?

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