The big news from Mike Macdonald’s Monday press conference is that Sam Darnold will practice this week. While Macdonald was guarded in his answer about Darnold’s health status, he was optimistic Darnold would get some practice reps.
“The plan is for him to be out there in some capacity. We’ll go from there. How much, we’ll see from here to Wednesday what that number is. Right now that’s the goal,’ said Macdonald.
The Seahawks will obviously be cautious with Darnold’s return to play. The elevated play of backup Drew Lock has eased any doubts about whether the Seahawks could win with Lock.
“I didn’t sense much difference in the attitude or the emotion of the team last week, which is a tremendous compliment to Drew (Lock). The things he’s been able to do, day in and day out, the types of practices and type of football he’s played out on the practice field throughout training camp, throughout his opportunities in the preseason. I sense a lot of confidence in what he brings to the table,’ said Macdonald. Drew can play great football, but he also brings his personality and style, which is what we want from our quarterbacks, and it’s exciting.
The players saw the best version of him out on the field. I’m happy for him. Proud of all the effort and proud of our team. This week is a bit different with Sam’s (Darnold) situation being more up in the air throughout the week, so this is a different approach in terms of our process about how we’ll handle our preparation throughout the week.”
Lock played a near-flawless game in the Seahawks’ 31-7 win over the Cardinals. He completed 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns, with one sack for 16 yards and zero interceptions.
THIN AT RUNNING BACK
At one point in Sunday’s game, the Seahawks were down to just one running back. Jadarian Price suffered a shoulder injury; George Holani was in concussion protocol. Emanuel Wilson was the lone running back for several series late in the fourth quarter. Holani returned to the game. In the meantime, Wilson showed that he can carry the load at running back when asked.
“ It’s something we’ll monitor throughout the week; it shouldn’t be a long-term thing, Macdonald said of Price’s injury. “ With Emanuel (Wilson), It’s the things that we saw him do throughout training camp before he had that minor setback. Glad to see him do his thing. A decisive runner, he gets downhill, not just on the inside run game; it’s on the perimeter game as well. Had a great run on third down where he kept the drive going on the last drive, which is awesome. A lot of great stuff, so we’re happy to have him.”
More reinforcement could arrive in the form of Zach Charbonnet. Charbonnet tore his ACL during the Divisional round of the playoffs in January and had surgery in February. The team placed him on the PUP list before the season began, which requires him to miss four games. The Seahawks can open a 21-day practice window for Charbonnet, during which he can practice with the team without his participation counting against the 53-man roster. The earliest he can return is Week 5 against the San Francisco 49ers.
“They’re the same. We want to maximize the time he can practice so he’s ready to go back. Not saying that it’ll take the most amount of time,’ said Macdonald, referring to Charbonnet’s IR designation. “We’re not going to max out all the practices, but that’s something we want to be able to consider, and how much practice time it’s going to take and stuff like that. That’s something we’re still working through.”
HAPPY RETURNS
Safety Nick Emmamwori saw his first game action of the 2026 season. Emmanwori had ankle surgery in the offseason and started training camp on the PUP list. On August 11th, Emmanwori passed his physical and was activated from the PUP list. After missing the season opener with the New England Patriots, Emmanwori played nine snaps and recorded one tackle in Sunday’s game with the Cardinals. Though he saw a limited number of snaps Macdonald was pleased with the second year players performance.
“Really good. For what we wanted to get out of the game, it was best case scenario,’ said Macdonald when asked about Emmaworis’ performance. “ Where we could ramp into this week and he’s got confidence in what he’s able to do and he’s also got some good reps stacked behind him and now, we can have clarity going into the week in terms of game planning how many reps he can manage.”
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