Brady HendersonFeb 5, 2026, 06:00 AM ETCloseBrady Henderson is a reporter for NFL Nation and covers the Seattle Seahawks for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2017 after covering the team for Seattle Sports 710-AM.Follow on XMultiple Authors
play2:51How Sam Darnold is enjoying the process leading up to the Super BowlSeahawks quarterback Sam Darnold breaks down the process of getting ready for the Super Bowl with Alex Smith.
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How Sam Darnold is enjoying the process leading up to the Super BowlSeahawks quarterback Sam Darnold breaks down the process of getting ready for the Super Bowl with Alex Smith.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold breaks down the process of getting ready for the Super Bowl with Alex Smith.
Macdonald, 38, is the architect and playcaller of the Seahawks defense that enters Sunday’s championship game against the New England Patriots (6:30 p.m. ET, NBC) allowing a league-low 17.2 points per game. Including the playoffs, it has held opponents to 10 points or fewer five times.
It’s the biggest reason the Seahawks won a club-record 14 games during the regular season and will play for the second Lombardi Trophy in the franchise’s 50-year history.
But Seattle’s defense hasn’t always been the dominant unit it is today. Macdonald recalled the growing pains it experienced over the first half of 2024 — his first season in Seattle after replacing Pete Carroll — and how it took a turn once everyone began pulling in the same direction. He cited a seminal defensive meeting going into a post-bye game in Week 11 against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, where they’ll face the Patriots on Sunday.
“We just made kind of a pact with each other: We’re going to be a great defense no matter what it takes,” Macdonald said of that 2024 meeting, “and they bought in. It didn’t happen overnight, but that’s the type of stuff and the dedication it takes, moving in the same direction to actually make this thing come to life.”
Their success has been built on Macdonald’s schematic brilliance and players who fit perfectly within it.
Unlike other teams, the Seahawks’ system isn’t built around one megastar defender such as Micah Parsons or Myles Garrett. There are multiple difference-makers at all three levels.
Let’s take a closer look at those three key defensive players and how they helped Seattle reach Super Bowl LX.
Before the Seahawks’ 50th NFL season, the club featured Witherspoon on its list of the 50 greatest players in franchise history. It was a nod not only to the plays he made while making the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons but also the spirit with which he did it.
Cornerbacks typically aren’t tone-setters for a defense, but that’s what Witherspoon is for Seattle.
“I think Spoon is a heart of who we are in a lot of ways,” safeties coach Jeff Howard said. “He’s the ultimate competitor and he’s constantly on fire, ready to compete at any moment’s notice — practice, meetings.”
With a violent style, a boisterous nature and a motor that constantly runs at redline speed, Witherspoon would have fit right in with Richard Sherman and the rest of the Legion of Boom secondary that helped the Carroll-era Seahawks win Super Bowl XLVIII. It’s easy to forget that he weighs only 185 pounds when you watch him hurl his body at ball carriers or sometimes throw them to the turf.
Late in his rookie season, Witherspoon did that to Jaylen Warren, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 215-pound running back. Williams hasn’t forgotten.
“He picks up another grown man and just slams him,” Williams said. “Since then, I call him one of us D-lineman. He plays in the trenches like he’s a big guy, and I love to see that.”
The Seahawks allowed an NFL-low 3.7 yards per carry in 2025 despite leading the league in snaps played with at least five defensive backs on the field. It’s a testament to how good Witherspoon and others in Seattle’s secondary are against the run.
Witherspoon, 25, made his third straight Pro Bowl despite not filling up the stat sheet in 2025, partly due to the fact that he was in a different role than he previously had.
After drafting Witherspoon fifth in 2023, Carroll’s defensive staff used him outside in base packages and slid him inside in nickel, putting him closer to the action as a run defender and blitzer. He finished that season with 3.0 sacks.
But with Witherspoon spending more of his time on the perimeter in 2025 as Emmanwori emerged as a force inside, the cornerback only had a half-sack to go along with one interception. He also missed five games in the first half of the season with a knee injury. Macdonald, though, went out of his way to say that Witherspoon was playing “great football” even if the stats didn’t show it.
The Rams had beaten Witherspoon twice for big gains earlier when they lined up on third-and-4 from Seattle’s 6-yard line, trailing by four points with just over five minutes remaining. When Matthew Stafford threw into the end zone on consecutive plays, first to receiver Konata Mumpfield and then to tight end Terrance Ferguson, Witherspoon broke up both passes.
“That’s Devon Witherspoon, that’s him,” Macdonald said after the Seahawks hung on for a 31-27 win. “We didn’t execute that play well on the fourth down, but he just covered his guy forever and just refused to let his guy catch the ball. … That’s who he is every day.”
One of the Seahawks’ biggest additions this season was Emmanwori and the versatility he brings to Macdonald’s defense.
Lawrence said Wednesday that he knew the Defensive Rookie of the Year finalist was going to be special “from Day 1.”
“I believe we all found out early in training camp. He was making so many plays out there,” Lawrence said. “To see a rookie thrive early in training camp, when you’re first getting the playbook, is special.”
Emmanwori lit up the 2025 NFL combine with a 4.38-second 40-yard dash and a 43-inch vertical jump. The Seahawks considered trading back into the first round but instead moved up 17 spots to select him 35th in April.
After the pick, general manager John Schneider noted the physical resemblance he bears to former Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor. The rookie is the same height as the Legion of Boom legend and nearly the same weight.
On the Seahawks’ roster, Emmanwori is listed as a safety, the position he played at South Carolina. He is also referred to as a nickelback while playing almost every down as one of five defensive backs on the field. But Macdonald has called him “a crazy athletic” linebacker.
“I think the cool thing that our front allows us to do, what Nick allows us to do, is we get some front variety that normally you wouldn’t get out of a true four-down team,” Macdonald said, “and I think that’s been pretty cool what we’ve been able to create.”
Whereas he was mainly a deep safety at South Carolina, he now moves around the field, and because of his varied skill set, he hardly ever has to leave it, regardless of the personnel the offense brings out.
On any given play, he might be lined up next to linebacker Ernest Jones IV on the second level. That’s where he came from to drop San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle in Week 18 for one of the nine tackles for loss he made during the regular season.
Or he could be lined up in the slot opposite a receiver. One of Emmanwori’s 11 passes defensed in the regular season came while covering speedy Minnesota Vikings All-Pro Justin Jefferson in Week 13. He added three more passes defensed in the NFC Championship Game against the Rams, including two while lined up against Davante Adams and Puka Nacua.
Macdonald doesn’t blitz often, but Emmanwori can do that as well. He had 2.5 sacks in 14 games, missing three and most of a fourth after suffering a high-ankle sprain in the opener. The Seahawks listed Emmanwori as a limited participant Wednesday after he left practice with an ankle injury.
“Nick is a special, special guy.” Lawrence said Wednesday. “For him to be so versatile and how tall and lean he is. I think it’s every coach’s dream to have that one player that you can move all around the field. I look down the line sometimes and I look out and I’m like, ‘Bro, why are you so close to me?’ He’s down there in the trenches trying to play like a D-lineman.”
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, he was one of only six defensive backs to log over 80 snaps on the line of scrimmage (86), at linebacker (284) and at slot corner (326), along with Hamilton, Derwin James Jr., Jaquan Brisker, Jeremy Chinn, and Nick Cross.
It has taken a group effort among Macdonald’s staff, on the field and in the classroom, to get Emmanwori ready to play multiple positions at a high level as a rookie. He gets extra work in with Howard, defensive coordinator Aden Durde and outside linebackers coach Chris Partridge, among others.
It also took a decision to keep him in his unique role early in the season, when Julian Love suffered a hamstring injury that would sideline him for nine games. Instead of temporarily moving Emmanwori into that spot, the Seahawks had Ty Okada slide in at safety, and the former undrafted free agent validated that decision with starter-level play.
“It’s crazy all the stuff that he’s done, and it’s really just a credit to him,” Howard said. “It’s hard to niche him into a position group because the things you’re asking him to do are almost positionless. He almost has to be coached by multiple position groups and coaches so that he gets time on task on what you’re asking him to do. But he’s definitely made us a better defense because we can be so multiple out of a single personnel grouping.”
Facing a critical fourth-and-4 in the NFC title game against the Rams, Macdonald’s playcall called for Lawrence to rush Stafford — but it didn’t go according to plan.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Rams coach Sean McVay said the Seahawks lucked into the stop, calling it a “fortuitous bust” that led Lawrence and Love to cover the same player. Lawrence, however, said it was instinct, explaining that he correctly read that Stafford would try to throw hot to Williams based on how quickly the back released.