Safety Rodney Thomas II could see big role for Seattle Seahawks against Patriots

RENTON, Wash. - Safety Rodney Thomas II could play a big role for the Seattle Seahawks in their season opener against the New England Patriots as Ty Okada and Nick Emmanwori could both be sidelined with injuries.

Okada has been unable to participate in practice either of the last two days, and Emmanwori remains limited as he recovers from an ankle injury he had in late July.

Thomas, who signed with Seattle this offseason after four years with the Indianapolis Colts, could start against the Patriots alongside Julian Love for the Seahawks.

The backstory:

Thomas, 28, has appeared in 68 games for the Colts in four seasons, making 26 starts in their secondary. He signed with Seattle this offseason and spent most of training camp playing alongside A.J. Finley on their second-team unit.

Love and Okada have been entrenched as the team's starters all throughout camp, but Okada appeared on the injury report on Sunday and hasn't been able to practice this week.

"Rodney had a great offseason," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "We’re really excited to be able to acquire him in the offseason. He has a lot of range, ball skills, physicality. I thought he played really well in the games when he was out there. He’s practiced great."

The Seahawks are currently carrying only three safeties on their active 53-man roster in Love, Okada and Emmanwori. Two of those three now appear likely to miss Wednesday's game, which will force Seattle to turn to their practice squad for available options.

If Okada's hamstring injury is significant enough, he could be placed on injured reserve to open up a roster spot for Thomas to be signed. Additionally, teams are able to elevate two players a week from the practice squad to play, while remaining on the practice squad overall. Finley, D'Anthony Bell or another positional need could be in consideration for those moves this week.

"Everybody that’s practiced with us and been here throughout camp would be excited to see him, excited with where they’re at. We feel like they could contribute to playing great football," Macdonald said.

Emmanwori is making progress, it just might not be enough to play in the season opener. An 11-day break until their Week 2 game in Arizona would give Emmanwori more time to get back in form after his long layoff from surgery.

"Nick had his most work in the last couple of days. Looks great," Macdonald said.

Thomas ready for the opportunity

Thomas was a regular starter for the Colts in his first two seasons in Indianapolis, and then fell into a backup role for his last two seasons with the team.

He signed with the Seahawks this offseason looking to be a part of the culture they put on display in their run to the Super Bowl last February.

"Just a culture over here that you just want to be a part of," Thomas said. And then it just feeds off everybody else. Everybody just breathes ‘12 as one,’ playing together, flying around, playing fast. So I just wanted to just be a part of that to try to help elevate as much as I could."

Thomas was released as a part of the team's roster cuts and re-signed to the practice squad. He was a free agent for 24 hours and could have looked for opportunities elsewhere, but he said he had no desire to look around.

"I knew I was going back here. I wasn't thinking about that," Thomas said.

"It just goes to show like we need everybody. Like every season is going to take all of us for the whole season. So just having a bunch of guys like that been here, like been through the process, just coming back, and then we're all seeing like familiar faces. We all know what we're bringing to the table. We already have those bonds created, so we're all just ready to fly around."

Thomas got enough reps alongside Love during training camp and with the first-team defense to feel comfortable playing with the group.

"We did a bunch of like rotating and like moving things around, just guys playing with different guys, just all building the chemistry, connection, across the field, DBs wise. So we're all like on the same page. It'll be fun," Thomas said.

Thomas had a minor surgery on his right hand in training camp for a broken bone that happened in the preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys. He said it's not any problem now and he's ready to play.

"I'm playing through it now too," he said. "They put like a pad around it or whatever, and then just wrap it up. It's all good, but it's been feeling good. It don't really hurt doing nothing like that, so it's all it's all been good.

"They put like a screw in it, like down the bone or whatever, and then it was like a small one, so like, it wasn't even like a real surgery. It was a light one. I was only under for like a little bit."

Injury Report

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