Star Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori injured in Wednesday practice

The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks held their first full practices of Super Bowl week on Wednesday. For the Seahawks that practice came with a potentially significant injury, as safety star rookie Nick Emmanwori left the session early. Emmanwori's injury was detailed in the pool report by ESPN's Kalyn Kahler (during the Super Bowl, only one reporter has access to practice, and releases a write-up detailing what they saw).

"Safety Nick Emmanwori was limited in practice on Wednesday with an ankle injury that he suffered during practice," Kahler writes. "The rookie safety injured his ankle while defending a pass late in practice. He walked off the field on his own shortly before 4 p.m. Several players and coaches went over to comfort him before he left."

The report also included a quote from Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald on the situation. "He had an ankle today, we brought him in to look at it, and we'll kind of go from here and figure out what are the next steps?" Macdonald said.

Emmanwori was listed as limited on Wednesday's injury report. That is typical for a player that is injured during practice.

Further updates on Emmanwori's condition should come on Thursday. Macdonald is scheduled to speak with reporters at 1:45 p.m. ET. The team will practice after that, releasing another injury report on Thursday evening.

Drafted by the Seahawks 35th overall in this past NFL Draft, Emmanwori played 14 games for the Seahawks this year with 11 starts. His elite combination of size (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) and athleticism (ran a 4.38-second 40 with a 43-inch vertical at the Combine) makes him a key chess piece in Macdonald's defense. Playing 84% of the team's snaps this season Emmanwori totaled 81 tackles with nine for a loss and 2.5 sacks this year, with 11 pass breakups and an interception.

As for the Patriots' injury report, there wasn't much that wasn't expected. Pool reporter Lindsay Jones noted that Drake Maye "took all of the team’s first-team reps during a 90-minute practice." Maye was upgraded to a full participant on the Patriots' injury report on Wednesday.

Jones also shared head coach Mike Vrabel took some one-on-one time with the defensive linemen. "After practice ended, Vrabel pulled a group of interior defensive linemen aside for extra instruction. Vrabel even got down into a three-point stance to work with defensive tackle Cory Durden on pass rush technique," she shared.