The Seattle Seahawks are heading into Week 3 with a safety group that has been hit hard, and the damage is piled up fast.
Bud Clark, the rookie safety and Seattle’s second-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, went down in the second preseason game of 2026 with a serious broken ankle and is out for the year. Then, just days before the season opened, starting free safety Ty Okada was sidelined by a hamstring injury and still hasn’t played. Now veteran strong safety Julian Love is dealing with a calf injury and will miss the game against the Washington Commanders.
That leaves Seattle without three starting-caliber safeties before its third game of the season. It’s a familiar kind of mess for this defense, too.
Last season, Love was banged up in Week 2 with a hamstring injury, then aggravated it again in Week 4 and later suffered a setback that kept him out for eight more games. That stretch is what pushed Okada from depth piece and special teams contributor into a steady starter.
Not long after Love came back, Coby Bryant went down and missed two games. Okada ended up starting in Bryant’s place late in the year, and that helped soften the blow when Bryant left in free agency. Seattle’s staff and front office trusted Okada because he had already shown he could handle the job.
This time, though, the injuries are hitting all at once.
With Okada and Love both unavailable for Week 3, the Seahawks are turning to Rodney Thomas II and AJ Finley as their starting safeties against Washington. The Commanders may not be the same threat they were in 2024, but losing both starters on the back end is still a major headache for the Dark Side Defense.
Seattle did spend the offseason preparing for this kind of problem. The team signed Thomas, Finley, D’Anthony Bell, and Maxen Hook, and also drafted Clark and cornerback Andre Fuller, who took reps at safety during training camp.
That depth is now being tested. Thomas, who started earlier in his career with the Indianapolis Colts, has already been steady in two starts for Seattle in place of Okada.
This will be his third start. Finley, meanwhile, is set for his first NFL start after working with the second-team defense in the 31-7 Week 2 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Finley was one of the standouts in training camp, especially after a season-ending ACL injury in the 202 training camp. Now he gets his first real shot on game day. The Seahawks also elevated Hook from the practice squad to add more depth at safety and help on special teams.
Seattle has bodies available, and enough experience to get through the week. The hope inside the building is that Love’s injury is only a precaution.
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