By Mazvita Maraire Posted on

Nick Emmanwori signs fully guranteed $11.6 contract with Seahawks

The Seahawks signed a Rookie safety, Nick Emmanwori, to an unprecedented guaranteed contract to a second-round pick. Emmanwori’s offseason performance garnered the move by the Seahawks.

 GROWING TREND

Emmanwori’s four-year, $11.6 million deal marks the first time a second-round, 35th pick has signed a fully guaranteed deal. Historically, first-rounders get the guaranteed deals first. That precedent changed earlier this spring when Linebacker Carson Schwestinger (Cleveland) and receiver Jayden Higgins (Houston) were given fully guaranteed deals. The two were the only second-round players picked ahead of Emmanwori.  Days before the Emmanwori signing, the Seahawks announced they had come to terms with rookie tight end  Elijah Arroyo.

ANOTHER PROMISING SECOND ROUNDER

  Another Seahawks second-round draftee, Arroyo, signed a four-year, $8.813 million deal with $6.87 million fully guaranteed.   The Seahawks announced this week that they have place Uchenna Nwosu on the Physically unable to perform list ( PUP) . The miss is not a surprise, as Mike McDonald stated that Uchenna would be back at some point before the season starts, but gave no specific details. Uchenna can return at any time before the season begins. If he starts the season on the PUP list, he will have to miss four games before he can return to the regular roster.

BG EXPECTATIONS FOR EMMANWORI

 It is no surprise that  Emmnawori’s deal was the last to get done.  Some predraft speculations had him going in the first round. The fact that he fell to the second round was a bonus for the Seahawks, and the team knew they would have to pay big money for the talented safety. The team has big plans for the promising rookie.

The Seahawks have big plans for him, the promising rookie. In turn, the promising rookie showed his potential during rookie mini camp and OTAs.   HC Mike Macdonald had nothing but glowing praise for the promising  rookie after the OTAs’s

“There are a lot of things we’re going to ask of him, and you’re kind of in this phase now where you’re exposing him to a lot of things to see what hits, what doesn’t. So you have a better idea of what you’re going to ask him to do when we start getting close to game time,” said Macdonald.

 “But his spirit about it and attitude, I’m going to go do this drill today. Great. I’m going to do this drill? Awesome. Keep building those skills and keep training yourself to be the best player you can, and then it’s up to us as a coaching staff to keep putting him in positions where he can do stuff that he does well. Like I said, we’ve talked about this at length, but just with a guy with that attitude that he’s had every day is just really fun to work with,” added Macdonald.

VERSATILE TIGHT POSITION

Mike Macdonald swapped out Ryan Grubb for Klint Kubiak, a run-first offensive coordinator who relies on the tight end to be a pass catcher and run blocker with equal efficiency. Pencilled in as the starter is Noah Fant. Next up is AJ Barner, then Arroyo, who is a wildcard.

Noah Fant is more of a pure receiver, but has not produced as much as many thought he might. His best receiving yards in three years with the Seahawks were the 500 yards he recorded last season. His most productive game was in the team’s week six loss to the Niners. In the home game, Fant had  six receptions for 63 yards.

 He has also only caught one touchdown pass in the last two years combined. He is entering the final year of his current deal with the Seahawks.  

CHANCE TO STEP IN AND SHINE


Arroyo missed playing time in 2022 and 2023 but returned with a stellar senior year at Miami, where he played all 13 games for the Hurricanes.   A big target with a knack for the big play, Arroyo could see significant playing time in Kubiak’s offense.

“This guy can run an extensive route tree to  have to account for a tight end body on the field, and him also to be able to split out wide, do X receiver type of things, bigger body that we probably have right now on our roster, just provides a ton of value,” said Macdonald.”  Then he’s going to throw it in there as the actual tight end in-line and be able to create some of those bigger personnel formations is the vision that we have for him. Really exciting.”

Rookies reported on Tuesday and have been holding meetings, conducting conditioning, and participating in some light on-field workouts. Veterans report on Tuesday, and the team will hold its first practice on Wednesday afternoon at the VMAC to open the 2025 training camp.

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