The Seahawks came out of Week 2 looking a lot more like a team with teeth than the one that opened the season, and the trust index reflects it. Seattle’s second-half takeover of Arizona wasn’t just a win; it was a statement, the kind that reshuffles who you can count on and who still has work to do.
Start with the obvious headliners. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is staying right where he belongs among Seattle’s alphas after turning in the best game of his young career.
He hauled in an 82-yard touchdown - his longest catch ever - on a ball that traveled 35 yards in the air before landing in the hands of a wide-open JSN. Budda Baker was six yards behind him on the play, and Smith-Njigba added two more touchdowns for his first career three-score game.
Leonard Williams also held his ground at the top. The Big Cat delivered two tackles for loss, a quarterback hit, and a sack while helping set the tone for a defense that held Arizona to just 44 yards in the second half. Seattle limited the Cardinals to 2.7 yards per pass, and Williams was a big reason the pressure kept building.
Then there’s Drew Lock, who is making this whole backup-quarterback thing look wildly inconvenient for everyone else. According to Pro Football Focus, Lock is the league’s top-ranked quarterback at 92.1, just ahead of Mahomes. That’s not the kind of sentence anyone would have expected three weeks ago, but here we are.
Devon Witherspoon stayed in the elite conversation, too. Arizona targeted him six times, but he allowed only four completions for 20 yards.
He also finished with eight tackles, including one for loss, and kept showing exactly why the Seahawks trust him every week. Julian Love remains firmly in the upper tier as well, continuing to make his presence felt in the back end.
Among the steady fixtures, Drake Thomas earned another nod after leading Seattle with six solo tackles. Mike Macdonald even credited him with correcting the coach’s own mistake.
As Cameron Van Til reported, Macdonald said, "I screwed us up on that. We were in the wrong front, and that’s the type of player Drake is - he makes things right in real time."
AJ Barner stays in the mainstay category, even with just three catches for 21 yards. The reason is simple: he gives Seattle value as a blocker and a receiver, and the Barnyard package keeps showing up. The question now is whether the tight ends as a whole can do more.
The biggest jump on the index belongs to Emanuel Wilson. After the earlier Eddie Lacy comparison, the correction was earned the hard way: Wilson handled 21 carries for 92 yards and brought the energy Seattle wanted from him. The Seahawks still needed to go to the Barnyard for their final score, but Wilson’s day was a clear step forward.
Christian Haynes also pushed himself into the rising group. He wasn’t a factor in his first two seasons and hadn’t been able to take Anthony Bradford’s job at right guard, but this was a different story.
Haynes didn’t allow a single pressure in 43 snaps, while Bradford was graded at 3.1 by PFF in Week 1. That’s enough to make the right guard situation worth watching.
Not everyone came out of Sunday clean. Josh Jobe had a rough one, allowing Arizona’s only touchdown when Trey McBride beat him to the corner of the end zone to tie the game at seven. There was no interception to bail him out this time, and the assignment against the 6-foot-4, 246-pound McBride wasn’t handled well.
Tory Horton is still working back from a season-ending injury last year and the hamstring issue in Week 1, but when he has been on the field, he has been productive. He has seven first downs and five scores on just 13 catches, which is why he remains a name to watch if his role expands against the Commanders.
Rasheed Shaheed slid after a mixed outing. He caught three passes on six targets, including a 23-yard gain on one of Seattle’s explosive plays, but the day also included a fumble on the opening kick of the second half.
Chazz Surratt recovered it and returned it to the Arizona 37, setting up a Seahawks score four plays later on the Lock-to-JSN touchdown. With Horton getting healthier, Shaheed may have more competition soon for both of his jobs.
Dante Fowler is still searching for a cleaner start to his games. His snaps dropped from 16 in Week 1 to 11 against Arizona, though he did record two pressures on Brissett. That’s decent work in limited action, but it needs to build from here.
And Mike Morris? He stayed on the outside looking in, a healthy scratch for the second straight week. Mike Macdonald knows him well from Michigan, but second-year player Rylie Mills is getting the work Morris was supposed to be in the mix for.
There were more names that could have made the list, but the Seahawks trust index is about movement, not just volume. After Week 2, the movers were easy to spot.
In Other News...
Seahawks Suddenly Face A Sam Darnold Decision They Wanted Soon
The Seahawks have spent the first two weeks of the season building momentum without ever really getting their quarterback situation settled. They opened with a close win over the Patriots, then backed it up with a more convincing result against the Cardinals, and in the process Drew Lock has done enough in Sam Darnolds place to keep Seattle moving while the starter works back from the glute injury that kept him out of the opener.
Now Darnold is expected to return to practice this week, according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, which means the conversation the Seahawks hoped to delay is suddenly here. Lock has handled the job well enough to keep the team unbeaten, but Seattle remains committed to Darnold as its starter, so the next step is less about whether the team likes what it has seen and more about how quickly it wants to hand the offense back to the quarterback it planned to build around. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Suddenly Have A Bigger QB Decision Than Fans Expected
Sam Darnolds availability has quickly become the Seahawks most interesting storyline heading into Week 3, even with Mike Macdonald making it clear the job belongs to the starter if hes healthy enough to go. Darnold has been dealing with a glute injury suffered in Week 1, and Seattle has had to weigh the value of getting him back on the field against the reality that Drew Lock has looked steady in relief.
Macdonald said Darnold is expected to practice in some capacity before the team makes its final call, which keeps the situation in motion for now. For a Seahawks offense trying to settle in early in the season, the question is no longer just whether Darnold can suit up, but whether Seattle has a reason to keep riding the hand the backup has given it if the starter is close but not quite ready. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Face A Drew Lock Decision They May Not Afford
Sam Darnolds injury absence has already reminded the Seahawks how much value there is in a dependable No. 2 quarterback, and Drew Lock has filled that role well enough to keep Seattle afloat. In limited starts, he helped the team go 2-0, giving the staff a level of comfort that is hard to find once a season starts to turn on depth and availability.
Now comes the part Seattle would rather avoid: interest from the outside. With the Giants suddenly in need after Jaxson Darts season-ending injury, Lock is a name that could come up, but the Seahawks may be wiser to treat him as more than a movable asset. A reliable backup is one of those pieces teams only miss once they no longer have it, and Seattles situation makes that lesson feel especially current. [Read more 🡒]