Inside the visiting locker room after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2, Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald began his postgame speech by saying, “Look, we won this game because of what we did in the offseason.”
In that moment, Macdonald was speaking about how work done in the spring tends to show up in the fall.
General manager John Schneider doesn’t address the team, but if he did, a similar sentiment could have been expressed inside the visiting locker room at EverBank Stadium after the Seahawks’ 20-12 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Something along the lines of: “We won this game because of the players we acquired in the offseason.”
A version of that line has held true in all of Seattle’s wins this season because of the offseason acquisition of quarterback Sam Darnold, who is performing like one of the best at his position despite the absence of a reliable run game. But the idea felt even more pronounced after the Week 6 win because of contributions from veteran free-agent signees like DeMarcus Lawrence and wide receiver Cooper Kupp, in addition to the play of second-round rookie safety Nick Emmanwori.
Returning to the lineup after missing the Week 5 loss with a quad injury, Lawrence had arguably his best game as a Seahawk on Sunday. The 33-year-old outside linebacker recorded two sacks, a 7-yard tackle for loss on a screen play, seven quarterback pressures and four QB hits (all stats provided by TruMedia). His final sack – which was split with linebacker Uchenna Nwosu – came on third-and-11 to end Jacksonville’s last attempt at mounting a game-tying drive.
Kupp had only two catches for 40 yards against Jacksonville, but both receptions came on the same drive, and the latter got him in the end zone for the first time this season.
Those two plays felt like his most impactful catches of the season – and they were, at least by expected points added. Kupp’s 11-yard touchdown on third-and-3 in the third quarter was his most impactful reception by EPA, and it gave Seattle much-needed cushion to hold off the Jaguars. Kupp’s 29-yard reception a few plays earlier, which moved Seattle into scoring position at the 18-yard line, was his third-most impactful.
Emmanwori had a team-high nine tackles in his second full game of the season after missing Weeks 2-4 with a high-ankle sprain sustained four snaps into the opener. Included in that tackle total was a takedown of wide receiver Travis Hunter for a 1-yard loss on a screen play in the fourth quarter. Two plays later came the sack split by Lawrence and Nwosu. Emmanwori also had two quarterback pressures – on just three pass-rush snaps – and a third-down stop in the fourth quarter when he dropped receiver Brian Thomas Jr. short of the sticks on third-and-4.
The 2025 season is shaping up to be quite the victory lap for Schneider, primarily because of Darnold (and the trade of QB Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders), Lawrence, the pass-blocking stability first-round rookie left guard Grey Zabel has already brought to the offensive line and the bet that receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba could lead a prolific pass attack after DK Metcalf was traded. Not to mention the return on investment from smaller moves like re-signing cornerback Josh Jobe (for $2 million), drafting receiver Tory Horton in Round 5 and claiming cornerback Derion Kendrick off waivers.
The Jacksonville game was a nice sweetener for Schneider and his staff, as the box score from another big road win featured season-best performances from three key offseason additions.
Lawrence’s play was most notable because of how badly his presence was missed against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Seattle registered just one hit on 38 dropbacks in Week 5. In Week 4, the Seahawks were able to field a formidable pass rush after Lawrence injured his quad in the first quarter because they still had Nwosu, Boye Mafe and Derick Hall. With Lawrence inactive in Week 5, Seattle couldn’t afford to lose Hall, who left after the opening series because of an oblique injury (Hall was inactive in Week 6).
Lawrence’s first sack on Sunday was the product of defensive tackle Leonard Williams eating up a double team on third-and-9, allowing his teammate a free run at the quarterback for a 9-yard loss (Jacksonville missed the ensuing field goal attempt).
But Lawrence set up that third-and-long one play before. He ran a stunt off Williams, crossed the face of the right guard, then bounced off a block from the left guard to pressure Trevor Lawrence, who checked the ball down to running back Travis Etienne in the flat. Emmanwori limited the running back to 2 yards. The sack Lawrence split with Nwosu was an instance of getting a quick win against left guard Ezra Cleveland. By the time Trevor Lawrence hit the top of his dropback, Seattle’s Lawrence was in position to pounce.
“That’s the DeMarcus Lawrence that I’m familiar with,” Macdonald said Monday. “He’s a disruptive, violent and decisive player. I’ll tell you what, I’d love to play linebacker behind him. He’s just kicking butt in the rush game. In order to twist and run games, it takes a lot of communication and unselfishness, and our guys did that. D-Law was a huge part of it.”
Emmanwori’s tackling was also a huge part of Seattle’s defensive success. Six of his tackles were solo stops on Jacksonville’s best skill players: Etienne, Thomas and Hunter. Macdonald referred to a couple of those plays as “hidden yardage” that his rookie defensive back prevented.
If Emmanwori hadn’t made that tackle on Etienne in the flat on second-and-10, for example, Jacksonville might not have ended up in an obvious passing situation on third down, leading to Lawrence’s sack and the missed kick.
On second-and-8 in the fourth quarter of a one-score game, Emmanwori was covering tight end Hunter Long on an out route, then rallied to Thomas after a catch near the sideline and made the tackle in space for just a 3-yard gain. Had Emmanwori missed, Thomas could have either picked up the first down or created a more manageable third down. Instead, Lawrence’s pass on third-and-5 was dropped and the Jaguars punted.
“In games past, we haven’t necessarily been 100 percent on some of those plays,” Macdonald said of Emmanwori’s “hidden yardage” tackles. “That really helped us.”
Kupp’s 29-yard catch-and-run was his longest reception of the year, and his touchdown gave Seattle a two-score lead in the second half. Equally important as the production is what it might mean for the future success of the offense.
Teams will almost certainly start allocating more resources to bottling up Smith-Njigba, the league’s leading receiver. The Houston Texans visit Seattle in Week 7 with the No. 1 defense in the league and a secondary with two talented cornerbacks in Kamari Lassiter and All-Pro Derek Stingley Jr. They’ll be Seattle’s toughest test of the season.
Seattle has a plan for feeding Smith-Njigba even when defenses sell out to stop him. But Kupp will also have to be heavily involved in the plan if Seattle is going to continue fielding one of the NFL’s most explosive passing offenses. The touchdown was an example of Kupp’s value in that regard: He won a one-on-one matchup and was available when the defense showed a blitz look.
Darnold has the fourth-lowest sack rate in the league, so teams aren’t getting to him very often. However, one of the ways teams have found success is by showing pressure. Even when teams show pressure, drop out and bring enough rushers for Seattle to account for in protection – which was the case on the touchdown – Darnold can still end up needing a quick answer. Smith-Njigba can’t be the No. 1 option every time. The touchdown was designed for Kupp, and it was Seattle’s only third-down conversion of the day.
Seattle needs Emmanwori and Lawrence to keep this up as well. Hall is unlikely to play against the Texans, meaning Lawrence must keep injecting life into the pass rush off the edge. It’s unclear whether Devon Witherspoon (knee) will play in Week 7, and with every game the Pro Bowl nickel cornerback misses, Emmanwori’s tackling, pass rushing and coverage become more important.
Schneider is coming off one of his worst offseasons in 2024, which included acquiring several players who either didn’t make the regular-season roster or didn’t make it through the season. That didn’t shake the organization’s confidence in its GM, as the team signed Schneider to an extension through 2031 in July.
That move is looking better and better, as Sunday’s game was the latest piece of evidence in the case that this was one of Schneider’s best offseasons. The dice-roll on Darnold is doing the heavy lifting, but when guys like Lawrence, Kupp and Emmanwori have an outsized impact on victories, it serves as another feather in the cap for the guy tasked with giving Macdonald a competitive roster.