The first game of the season already comes with a short bench for both the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.
New England elevated running back Lan Larison and punter Mitch Wishnowsky from the practice squad before its opener at Lumen Field, while Seattle will be without safety Nick Emmanwori and wide receiver Tory Horton. The Patriots also ruled out running back TreVeyon Henderson and backup center Ben Brown, leaving both teams to sort through lineup changes before kickoff on Sept. 9.
For Seattle, the inactives list is especially crowded in the secondary. Starting safety Ty Okada, Emmanwori and Horton are all out, along with tight end Nick Kallerup, guard Beau Stephens, defensive tackle Mike Morris and quarterback Jalen Milroe. The Seahawks also signed safety AJ Finley off their practice squad and elevated safety Rodney Thomas II, with one of those players expected to start in Okada’s place.
Emmanwori’s absence stands out because he has not practiced fully since ankle surgery in July. He was limited in practice this week, and Seattle officially listed him inactive because of the ankle injury. Horton’s situation is less defined but no less inconvenient for the opener: he is dealing with a hamstring issue, and his return timeline is unknown.
The Seahawks said both players had been questionable for Wednesday’s opener against New England.
That leaves Seattle with real turnover at safety before the first snap. Okada is out with a hamstring injury, Emmanwori is unavailable after the July surgery, and the team had to move quickly to add bodies at the position. The result is a defense that will have to settle into new combinations immediately against a Patriots offense that is also missing pieces.
New England’s answer was to bring up Larison and Wishnowsky from the practice squad. Larison’s promotion is the more notable one because Henderson is out for the opener with an ankle injury. Henderson led the Patriots last season with 1,132 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns, so his absence removes a player who had been central to the offense’s production a year ago.
The Patriots will also be without Brown, another hit to the offensive depth chart. With Henderson sidelined, New England will need other backs to absorb the workload while the line adjusts around the missing center.
Both teams now enter the opener with the same basic problem: they have to make their first-game plans around players who are not available. Seattle is patching together the back end of its defense and waiting on Horton’s recovery. New England is replacing Henderson’s production and shuffling its roster with two practice-squad elevations.
That is the backdrop for the 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff in Seattle. Before the season can even settle into its first quarter, both sides are already asking reserve players to fill roles that were supposed to belong to someone else.