The South Carolina Gamecock football program has produced some great defensive backs that went on to become big NFL stars. Big names like Stephon Gilmore, Jonathan Joseph and Jaycee Horn stand out.Â
But in just his lone rookie season with the Seattle Seahawks, former Gamecocks star Nick Emmanwori has made a name for himself amongst NFL scouts and executives. ESPN recently polled several head coaches, scouts and execs to rank some of their best safeties across all 32 teams. After just one season in Seattle, Emmanwori was ranked as the NFL's No. 6 overall safety.Â
 "Major upside," an NFL coordinator told ESPN of Emmanwori. "He's so impressive for where he is at such a young age. He's got all the physical measurables."
The piece adds that Emmanwori's 2.1% pass breakup rate was second-highest among all safeties in the league, and that he was the only player across all 32 teams with at least 15 pressures and 10 pass breakups last season.
Seattle drafted Emmanwori in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, selecting him 35th overall. He played in 15 games for Seattle last season with 11 starts, helping the Seahawks defense bring a Super Bowl to the franchise for the first time since 2014. He finished his rookie season with 94 total tackles with 2.5 sacks and nine quarterback hits. Perhaps even more impressive is that he did so after missing Seattle's first three games due to injury.  Â
He finished second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting, with the first place going to Browns rookie Carson Schwesinger. Perhaps even more impressive was how versatile Emmanwori was for the Seahawks, as he played both in the slot, in man coverage downfield and sometimes as a rusher off the edge to dsrupt the quarterback.Â
"We've never really had a player like him," Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald said of Emmanwori in Dec. of last year. "So we are kind of making it up as we go to a certain extent. I hate to admit that, but we kind of are."
As Seattle rebuilds in 2026 and prepares to defend their Super Bowl title, it's a bit scary to consider what Emmanwori can do in his second season as he learns the Seattle defense more.Â
Emmanwori was born in North Carolina, but grew up primarily in South Carolina. He native spent three seasons with the Gamecocks from 2022-25, accounting for 244 total tackles with 11 passes defended and six interceptions over his three seasons.Â
His rookie contract with Seattle is a four-year, $11.6 million deal. But it's safe to say if he keeps playing like he did as a rookie, he could get a new contract in no time.Â
Emmanwori and the Seahawks begin preseason play on Aug. 15 against the Dallas Cowboys. They will open the regular season with a Super Bowl rematch against the New England Patriots on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. ET.
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