RENTON — It’s not that Uchenna Nwosu won’t be glad to be home for a few days this week when the Seahawks play in Los Angeles against the Chargers.
But the native of nearby Carson, who until this year had never lived outside of the Los Angeles area, is learning that branching out can have its benefits.
“I feel like I’ve been making a lot more plays here than I did there,” said Nwosu, who is in his first season as a rush end/linebacker with the Seahawks after four years with the Chargers. “I’m doing better, I’m playing better, my production has continuously been getting better, and I’m happy to be here.”
Nwosu, in fact, has three sacks in six games with Seattle, already more than halfway to the career-high five he had a year ago with the Chargers, and 24 tackles, which is more than halfway to the career-high 39 he had last season.
Nwosu put up those stats in what was his only year as a full-time starter with the Chargers, and first playing in a defensive system under head coach Brandon Staley similar to what he is in now with the Seahawks.
While he’d begun to break out with the Chargers, LA didn’t match the two-year deal worth up to $19.05 million he got from the Seahawks as a free agent.
So far, he looks like a bargain, having played 80.52% of Seattle’s defensive snaps, the most of any of the players on the Seahawks front line by a wide margin.
Defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt called Nwosu’s production so far “a pleasant surprise.”
“We knew he was a good football player, when I say surprise,” Hurtt said. “But he’s been even more to us.”
Proving to Nwosu what he felt he could do all along.
Asked if he wants to show the Chargers on Sunday what they are missing out on, Nwosu said, “Not just the Chargers, but the whole world. I’m just going to keep improving at being this player that I know I can be. I’m a great player and I’m going to keep getting better.”
One reason he thinks he’s thrived is that he has more freedom in Seattle’s defense than he did with the Chargers to go inside or outside coming off the edge.
Coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday the team realized early in training camp that Nwosu could handle the responsibility of making his own call on whether to go inside or outside on certain plays.
“It was a whole new world for him because he was never allowed to do that,” Hurtt said.
Nwosu called getting that freedom “a vote of confidence.”
“When the coach says, ‘do whatever you have to do to make a play,’ basically. I’m like, ‘All right, shoot, I’ll do it,’” he said. “Shoutout to Pete for giving me that freedom, and I’m going to just keep trying to get better every week.”
It paid off immediately with Nwosu earning NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors in Week 1 following a 17-16 win over Denver in which he had a sack of Russell Wilson and a forced fumble at the Seattle 1-yard-line.
He said that game was when he realized playing with the Seahawks would be different.
“It was probably when I came here, in that first game, I felt like, ‘OK, this is how it’s supposed to feel, this is how it’s supposed to be,’” he said.
Nwosu also has liked Seattle’s uncommonly dry summer and fall. After playing high school ball in Harbor City, California, he played at USC, and then was taken in the second round of the 2018 draft by the Chargers, able to play until he was 25 years old in the same basic area.
And even if the Seattle weather will eventually turn, Nwosu says it’s all good.
“I’m more of a to-myself kind of guy anyway,” he said. “So no matter where I go, I think I’ll be all right.”
Not that he won’t be glad to be home for a day or so.
“It’s going to mean a lot, going back home and being able to play in front of my family and friends like I’ve done my whole entire athletic career,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends supporting me in the stands.”
Notes
— Nose tackle Al Woods, who missed the Arizona game with a knee injury, returned to practice on a limited basis Wednesday and the team is optimistic he will return this week. “He feels good,” Carroll said.
— Nwosu sat out practice as a resting veteran while five others sat out due to injuries — WR Penny Hart (hamstring), G Gabe Jackson (knee/hip), WR Tyler Lockett (hamstring), and cornerbacks Artie Burns (groin) and Isaiah Dunn (hamstring). Lockett was also on the injury report last week with a hamstring and then played. Hart missed the Arizona game, but Carroll said the team thinks he can return at some point over the next three games, which is why the team did not put him on injured reserve. And Carroll said Jackson, who missed the Arizona game, remains “day to day.”
— Along with Woods, TE Noah Fant (illness), S Ryan Neal (ankle) and DE Quinton Jefferson (foot) were also listed as limited.
— Defensive lineman L.J. Collier, the team’s first pick in 2019, suffered a thumb injury last week that complicated his return from IR. He was on IR due to an elbow injury suffered in the last preseason game at Dallas but officially returned to practice two weeks ago. The Seahawks will have to activate him next week to the 53-man roster or leave him on IR for the rest of the season. “He’s going to practice,” Carroll said before Wednesday’s practice. “He’s really close now. We needed to see how well he could do it. He barely made it through practice last week. He really couldn’t put his hand in everything because his thumb was really hurting.”
— Carroll said cornerback Tre Brown, who remains on IR recovering from knee surgery last November, could return to practice in the next couple of weeks. But Carroll said there is no ETA for a return for DE Alton Robinson, who is on IR with a knee injury suffered in the preseason. “I don’t have a good one for Alton right now,” Carroll said. “He’s still kind of in the middle of it.”