The Seattle Seahawks’ worst fears regarding linebacker Uchenna Nwosu have been confirmed. On Saturday night during the preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns, the Seahawks won 37-33 but it came at a cost. Linebacker and top pass rusher Uchenna Nwosu was injured on a cut block.
On Monday morning, Seattle sent a late round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars to acquire linebacker Trevis Gipson. Having such an aggressive move to bolster the pass rush depth suggested that Nwosu was likely going to miss significant time with the injury he sustained.
Unfortunately, we got the correct read on the tea leaves.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Nwosu has a sprained MCL, and is going to be out a few weeks.
Seattle’s top edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu suffered a sprained MCL and is now expected to miss anywhere between two and six weeks, per source. pic.twitter.com/dZjC4giqjr
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 26, 2024
The loss of Nwosu to start the season is a big blow to a Seahawks defense looking to improve from two abysmal years. Seattle’s pass rush was fine last year, but wildly inconsistent, and the loss of Nwosu last year directly contributed to the varying ability to get after quarterbacks.
In 2022, Nwosu recorded 9.5 sacks for the Seahawks, which he parlayed into a three-year extension. However, Nwosu has struggled to stay on the field, and since signing the extension he has only played in seven games. Now, he will likely start the regular season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
Hopefully, the actual recovery time is on the more optimistic end of the prediction. The Seahawks do not have media availability today, so we will have to wait to hear from head coach Mike Macdonald on more updates regarding this situation. For now, Seattle is going to have to make do without Nwosu in the lineup to face the Denver Broncos in two weeks.
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