The Seattle Seahawks will be getting starting quarterback Sam Darnold back from a glute injury for their Week 3 action, but the team is still banged up at several other key areas across the board. Based on the team’s final injury report before its upcoming contest, it seems like the safety position could pose some problems for the Seahawks on Sunday.
Both of Seattle’s starting safeties, Julian Love and Ty Okada, have been nursing injuries throughout the week, throwing their respective statuses for Week 3 up in the air. The Seahawks were hoping that at least one of these guys would have a shot to suit up on Sunday, but those hopes were put to rest Friday afternoon.
Seahawks Rule Out Julian Love, Ty Okada for Week 3 Action
The safety position has been less than 100% healthy all season long for Seattle. Rookie Bud Clark suffered a season-ending ankle injury during the summer, and the versatile Nick Emmanwori missed the season opener while recovering from his own ankle injury. That left Love and Okada as the team’s top starters, but they both are banged up, too.
Okada has been nursing a hamstring injury since over the summer, as it has prevented him from suiting up in either of Seattle’s first two games. Since he didn’t get placed on injured reserve, the hope was that Okada would be able to suit up within the team’s first four contests of the year, but he’s running out of time to do so.
Once again, Okada didn’t practice at all on Friday, but he has surprisingly been joined by Love, who is dealing with a sudden calf injury. Love missed practice on both Thursday and Friday, and in a concerning turn of events, rather than being given a shot to get right over the next 48 hours or so, the team opted to rule both him and Okada out for its upcoming game.
The Seahawks will be without two of their top three safeties Sunday at Washington as Julian Love and Ty Okada have both been ruled out. Defensive tackle Brandon Pili is questionable,” Brady Henderson of ESPN shared in a post on X.
Seahawks Set to Be Very Shorthanded at Safety in Week 3
While Emmanwori is good to go for this game, he isn’t exactly a direct replacement for either Love or Okada at safety, as he is a Swiss Army knife that gets used all over the field. With these two guys out, AJ Finley and Rodney Thomas II will be thrust into starting action, with either D’Anthony Bell or Maxen Hook likely to be elevated from the practice squad to the active roster to serve as an extra layer of depth behind them.
It’s never good to see one position be hit so hard by injuries, but the good news for the Seahawks is that they are facing a Washington Commanders team that won’t feature its starting quarterback, Jayden Daniels, in this game. Kickoff for this clash is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, and even with Love and Okada out, Seattle will be expected to pick up its third win of the season on Sunday.
Seahawks Receive Discouraging Injury News on Pair of Defensive Starters