​To the surprise of absolutely no one who watches the Seattle Seahawks on a regular basis, the team has a rising star in their defensive ranks: safety Nick Emmanwori. During the 2025 NFL draft, many argued the Seahawks should select him with the No. 18 overall pick. While Seattle chose to go with guard Grey Zabel instead, they still managed to have their cake and eat it too as they still managed to draft Emmanwori at the top of the second round.The thought process was that defensive guru Mike Macdonald needed a versatile safety that could be the chess piece to put anywhere on the board. Turns out that was the correct line of thinking, as Emmanwori made an immediate impact to elevate Seattle’s defense in year one. Now, he is gaining league-wide recognition for his efforts.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn a recent survey from team executives, coaches and scouts across the NFL, Nick Emmanwori ranked in as the No. 6 safety in the league. This was published in an article by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.Fowler writes:Emmanwori was a disruptor at the line of scrimmage for Seattle’s championship defense, finishing second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting behind Carson Schwesinger, our new No. 3-ranked linebacker. Emmanwori was best utilized as a third safety/hybrid linebacker. The results: 2.5 sacks and a pass breakup rate of 2.1%, the second highest among safeties. Including the playoffs, Emmanwori was the only NFL player with at least 15 pressures and 10 pass breakups last season. As a result, Emmanwori appeared on nearly 80% of ballots.Oddly, one AFC executive called Emmanwori a “one-trick pony” due to the fact he apparently doesn’t play as well going backwards. Do you hear that? That was just the sound of the collective eye-roll the 12th Man just gave while reading that critique. Emmanwori is one of the most versatile players at his position, and is a borderline Swiss Army Seahawk at this point for what he is able to do.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementInterestingly enough, during the pre draft process, everyone kept saying Mike Macdonald needed a versatile safety like he had with Kyle Hamilton in Baltimore. Guess who came in at No. 1 on this list?Seattle is absolutely loaded on the back end of their defense. Emmanwori is already considered Top 10 at his position, and his running mate Julian Love allowed the lowest passer rating in coverage last season.This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks S Nick Emmanwori makes the Top 10 safeties list