Seahawks Rookie Nick Emmanwori May Hold Out, Sending Shockwaves Through NFL

Seattle Seahawks training camp for the 2025 season officially opens on July 23, but rookies are required to report on Tuesday — and that means all eyes across the NFL will be watching closely to see if one Seahawks rookie decides to show up — or stage a contract holdout.

That rookie is second-round draft pick Nick Emmanwori, a safety out of South Carolina who an NFL pre-draft scouting report called “a physical specimen with rare size and outstanding speed” who possesses “rare NFL traits and talent.”

So why would Emmanwori choose to hold out? And why does his decision on Tuesday matter not only to the Seahawks, but to the whole NFL, with the exception of two teams who are at the root of the problem in the first place?

Here’s the issue: the NFL faces serious problem with its unsigned second-round draft picks.

Rookies Must Report on Tuesday

Most training camps open on July 23, but six teams including Seattle require rookies to report eight days earlier, on Tuesday. And yet, an incredible 30 of the 32 rookies taken in the NFL Draft’s second round remain unsigned.

The problem started when the Houston Texans, who took Iowa State wide receiver Jayden Higgins at No. 34, second in Round 2, for reasons that remain unclear decided to grant Higgins a fully guaranteed contract.

That made Higgins the first second-rounder ever to receive a full guarantee on his money, a privilege previously reserved for first-round picks. Once the Texans did it, the Cleveland Browns who picked before Houston, taking UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger at No. 33, did the same for Schwesinger.

But no other team was willing to follow suit, which if they had would have set a precedent that all future second round picks should receive full guarantees. The players’ agents, of course, felt that if Higgins and Schwesinger got the guarantees, their clients, picked lower in the draft, should too.

The story gets even more complicated than that, but for the Seahawks what is most important is that they held the third pick in the second round. In fact, they traded up 17 places to get there.

With the No. 35 selection, they won the right to pick the 21-year-old Gamecocks safety.

Emmanwori to Set Precedent for 29 Other 2nd-Round Picks

That’s important because it makes Emmanwori the highest second-round draft pick who has yet to sign. His decision on whether to take a lesser salary guarantee or hold out for the full package will create a precedent for the 29 players taken below him.

Most NFL experts believed that the second-round issue would blow over, and that the unsigned players would eventually give in. But on Saturday — when Los Angeles Chargers rookies were required to report — that teams second-rounder, former Ole Miss wide receiver Tre Harris, laid down a gauntlet by refusing to show up.

Harris now becomes the first official second-round holdout. But Emmanwori due to his position in the draft remains the most important.

As of Monday, the rookie and his agents David Mulugheta and Trevon Smith of Athletes First had given no indication of whether he planned to report with the rest of the Seahawks rookie class.

If Emmanwori holds out, there appears to be a strong possibility that the other 29 unsigned second-rounders will do the same, turning what just a month ago appeared to be a minor inconvenience for the NFL into a full-blown crisis.