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The Depth Chart Lists Nick Emmanwori Twice
Seattle’s first regular-season depth chart is out, and the strangest thing on it is the safety column. Nick Emmanwori is listed as the backup to Ty Okada. He is also listed as the backup to Julian Love. One player, two jobs, and no third name behind either of them.
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Safeties on the 53-man roster: Julian Love, Ty Okada, and Nick Emmanwori. That is the entire room.
That is what carrying three safeties looks like once somebody types it up. Emmanwori is not really a traditional defensive back anyway, as Field Gulls points out, which is a polite way of saying he spent his rookie year at linebacker, in the slot and on the edge. He is also coming off ankle surgery and has not practiced since clearing the PUP list. ESPN’s Brady Henderson has him as iffy for the opener.
The other listing worth staring at is on special teams. Rashid Shaheed and Tory Horton are the primary returners, and Horton has been sidelined since mid-August with something Macdonald has cheerfully declined to name. George Holani and Montorie Foster are listed as kick return options too, which reads less like depth and more like a hedge.
At running back the order is still Holani, then Jadarian Price, then Emanuel Wilson, same as it has been all camp and still not what anyone expects Wednesday night.
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One player, two jobs, and no third name behind either of them.
An unofficial depth chart is not a lineup card. Nobody signs it, nobody has to honor it, and it will be wrong by kickoff. What it does honestly is show you the thin spots, and this one is pointing at safety and at whoever ends up under a punt.
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Injury Watch
Nobody Will Say a Date Out Loud About Zach Charbonnet
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He opens on PUP, which costs him at least the first four games: New England, Arizona, Washington, the Chargers. ESPN notes that under the current rule he can begin practicing in Week 3, and that is the date actually worth circling, because practicing and playing are separated by a couple of weeks and one coach’s opinion.
Eight months after tearing an ACL in the divisional round, a back who split a championship backfield has become a rumor with good film. Meanwhile the depth chart above says Holani, Price, and a hamstring. You can see why nobody in Renton wants to commit to a Sunday.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Lumen Field’s concessions now include a “JSN Menu” built with Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the stadium’s hospitality partner. Break the franchise receiving record, sign for $168.6 million, and the city puts your initials on a tray. Short of a ferry, that is the highest honor available here. Seahawks.com
Linebacker Jamie Sheriff, waived Sunday, is joining the Rams’ practice squad. Undrafted out of South Alabama in 2024, he has now missed the initial 53 in three straight Augusts and finally found a new building. Of every available address, he picked the one we visit twice a year. Yahoo Sports
The same depth chart has Josh Jones as the only backup tackle behind both Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, with rookie Beau Stephens the lone reserve at both guard spots. Two spares for four jobs. The offensive line contingency plan is basically a coin. Field Gulls
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles kicks off in Melbourne a week from today and still has not said who plays quarterback if Matthew Stafford goes down. They kept three of them on the initial 53, and as of late August the Week 1 backup was undecided. Sean McVay will happily walk you through the geometry of a play-action concept in four colors. Ask him which of his own three quarterbacks is second and the room goes quiet. The plane is already loaded.
NINERS
San Francisco’s initial 53 carries exactly two quarterbacks. Two. For an opener on the other side of the planet against a division rival. Brock Purdy, and a former first-round pick they signed to a two-year deal last offseason. The Rams brought three and cannot pick a backup; the Niners brought two and are calling it conviction. Somewhere between those roster sheets is a normal football team, and neither of them is it.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This undrafted rookie running back out of Central Michigan ran for 209 yards in a 29-13 Seahawks win over the 49ers in November 2015. Who is he?
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Thomas Rawls. He was told roughly two hours before kickoff that he was starting, then went out and turned San Francisco into scenery.
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Roster math, depth chart grievances, opener anxiety, anything. Send it in and I will answer it honestly, which is not always the same as answering it kindly.
It's a piece of paper. Wednesday is the real thing. — The Rooster