Darnold Returns; Seahawks Lose Both Starting Safeties — SkimNews
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- Sam Darnold will start Sunday against Washington after missing most of the first two games with a glute injury suffered on the fifth play of Week 1; Coach Mike Macdonald called his recovery a "medical miracle" and said Darnold looked "really good" in two full practices this week.
- Julian Love (calf) and Ty Okada (hamstring) are both ruled out at safety, with Love popping up on the injury report as a nonparticipant Thursday and Okada still unable to practice; Love had an interception in three straight games dating to Seattle's Super Bowl LX win over New England.
- AJ Finley will make his first NFL start replacing Love after entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2023, tearing an ACL in 2024 training camp, and intercepting Darnold during this summer's camp — what he called a "full-circle moment."
- Nick Emmanwori, Seattle's box safety, is set for a "significantly larger workload" than the nine snaps he got last week in his return from July ankle surgery, per Macdonald.
- Backup defensive tackle Brandon Pili (concussion/neck) is the only other Seahawks player with a game designation (questionable), and rookie running back Jadarian Price is cleared after progressing to full participation Friday through a chest/shoulder injury.
- Running back Zach Charbonnet must miss at least two more games while on the PUP list; the Seahawks did not open his 21-day practice window this week, though Macdonald said they might next week.
Why it matters: Seattle's 2-0 Super Bowl defense now runs through a quarterback who briefly feared his career was over, while a secondary already hit hard by injuries leans on an undrafted free agent making his first career start and a safety ramping up after ankle surgery. That is a lot of thin ice heading into a Week 3 game against a Washington team looking to hand the champs their first loss.
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