The Seahawks activated a pair of players from injured reserve on Friday.
Running back George Holani and tight end Elijah Arroyo are back on the active roster. The Seahawks opened roster spots for them by placing running back Zach Charbonnet and guard Bryce Cabeldue on injured reserve.
Holani has been out since November with a hamstring injury and his return will improve the team’s backfield depth with Charbonnet sidelined by a torn ACL. Holani had 22 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown and he recovered a kickoff in the end zone for a touchdown in his special teams role.
Arroyo missed the team’s last five games with a knee injury. The second-round pick had 15 catches for 179 yards and one touchdown in the regular season.
Rams Clips
The last time the Rams faced the Seahawks, L.A. racked up 581 total yards of offense. Without receiver Davante Adams.
Adams will be back for Sunday’s round three, with a Super Bowl berth on the line. On Thursday, coach Sean McVay was asked about the impact of having Adams available for the biggest game ever between the two division rivals.
“Tremendous,” McVay said. “He’s a great player. The game [in Chicago] was unique. It was good to be able to get his feet wet and he made some key and critical plays against Carolina. Then you look at last week, it’s like competitive greatness. Be at your best when your best is required. You look at the leverage that he had from [Bears cornerback] Nahshon Wright on that 12-yard catch that [Adams] made. It was unbelievable. Not a great play call, but he and Matthew [Stafford] made it right where he’s able to win the leverage, flatten that angle out and have the awareness on the sideline. The in-cut that he caught was a huge play. He’s a tremendous impact. It’s great to be able to have him back and everybody feels and notices when he’s on the grass. He’s just got this swag that I think elevates the energy of our overall group and team. We’re really excited to have him back.”
Adams also provides an excellent complement to Puka Nacua. That said, the Bears managed to generally contain Nacua (five catches, 56 yards) and Adams (two catches, 24 yards), with man-to-man defense. The Seahawks, who primarily use zone coverage, may need to consider going more “man” against the Rams.
Regardless, Adams makes a significant difference. He led the league in receiving touchdowns with 14, even though his last one came on November 30. When the Rams get close to the end zone, the Seahawks will need to have eyes on Adams. And Nacua.
Good luck covering both of them.
Rams coach Sean McVay was as stunned as everyone else by the touchdown pass Bears quarterback Caleb Williams threw to force overtime on Sunday. But McVay knew he and his team needed to regroup immediately.
Asked about his thoughts on the play, McVay said his biggest thought was how well his team responded.
“That was a play where you’re like, ‘What the hell just happened?’ I think it was important for us to be able to reset, and I thought our guys did that. And it wasn’t like the overtime went exactly ideal either. That was what I was so impressed with,” McVay said.
In overtime, McVay blamed himself for a third-and-1 run on which the Rams lost two yards and had to punt. If the Bears had scored on the subsequent possession, the Rams’ season would have been over.
“That third-and-1 play, I’m thinking, man, if that ends up being the play that costs us because I didn’t put us in a great spot, that would be a rough offseason,” McVay said.
Instead, the Rams persevered in overtime, and their offseason isn’t starting just yet.
Four years ago with the Rams, receiver Cooper Kupp had a season for the ages, culminating in the Super Bowl MVP award. Now with the Seahawks, Kupp is facing his former team with a Super Bowl berth on the line.
He was asked on Thursday whether he envisioned this possibility.
“No,” Kupp told reporters, “you take things one day at a time. I’ve touched on this a little bit, we all have a story. All these guys here that step on this field, they’ve all had a story to get them to this point. They’ve all had a journey of what this year has been, what the last few years have been to come to this point. Mine is just one of 53 that are going to be on that field. And my story, this is an unbelievable storyline, the chances of this ends up being what it is. And I’m really excited about that. But this is the Seahawks going into an NFC Championship game and trying to get the job done.
“So that’s the great thing about football. It’s all these guys. All these guys have different stories, and we all get to play for one another. I mean, it’s a powerful thing when all 50 guys are playing for their purpose. But it’s even more powerful when you’re playing for the guys next to you and the people lining up alongside you. And that’s what I’m excited about, is the guys that are in this room that you want to go out there and win for, the coaches that put so much time into this that you want to go and execute your job for. And we’ve got a lot of guys that live that, that are about it. And that’s what makes this a really exciting thing for me.”
Kupp has a far different role with the Seahawks than he did with the Rams. In the regular season, he caught 47 passes for 593 yards in 16 games, his lowest output since 2018, when he caught 40 passes for 566 yards in only eight games.
And while the bigger picture for the Seahawks is getting back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 11 years, Kupp has a chance to keep his former team from getting there, in the first year of his career elsewhere. It’ll be impossible for him to not think about that, even if he’s more focused on the goal of parlaying the No. 1 seed into a spot in the next game.
The Chargers have requested Aubrey Pleasant to interview for their vacant defensive coordinator job, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Pleasant is the assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator for the Rams. The Rams defense ranked 10th in points allowed and fifth in takeaways in 2025.
He has coached in the NFL for the past 13 seasons.
Pleasant has spent time with Washington, the Browns, Lions and Packers.
The Chargers are seeking to replace Jesse Minter, whom the Ravens hired as their head coach on Thursday.
A major winter storm is coming this weekend, and that could be good news for the NFL.
As noted by Eric Fisher of FrontOfficeSports.com, inclement weather could keep more people in their homes on Sunday, with nothing to do but hunker down for seven hours of high-stakes football.
The AFC Championship starts at 3:00 p.m. ET, with the NFC Championship kicking off at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Whatever the weather, the ratings will be significant. Many millions will be watching both games. But it can’t hurt if people who otherwise wouldn’t be home on Sunday, for whatever reason, are snowed and/or iced in.
There’s one caveat. Ice accumulations could lead to power outages. Which will make it a little harder to turn the TV on.
Last year, Commanders-Eagles generated a relatively disappointing 44.2 million viewers. Bills-Chiefs attracted 57.4 million.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold remained a limited participant in Thursday’s practice as he continues to nurse an oblique injury.
Darnold popped up on last Thursday’s injury report after tweaking his left oblique early in practice while warming up. He was questionable, but started and played 47 snaps before turning it over to Drew Lock to finish in mop-up duty.
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said earlier Thursday that he is optimistic that starting left tackle Charles Cross will play against the Rams. Cross, though, remained out of practice with his foot injury.
Cross missed the final three games of the regular season with a hamstring injury and injured a knee last week in practice before leaving with a foot injury in Saturday’s playoff win over the 49ers.
The second- and third-string offensive tackles — Josh Jones (knee, ankle) and Amari Kight (knee) — also again didn’t practice.
Guard Bryce Cabeldue (knee) and fullback Robbie Ouzts (neck) remained limited for a second consecutive day.
Edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence (rest), linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (hamstring), wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (rest) and defensive lineman Leonard Williams (rest) returned to full participation after limited work on Wednesday.
Tight end Elijah Arroyo (knee), running back George Holani (hamstring), linebacker Tyrice Knight (shoulder) and linebacker Chazz Surratt (ankle) again were full participants.
The Rams had only one change to their practice report on Thursday.
Safety Quentin Lake, who missed Wednesday’s practice with an illness, returned to full participation.
Outside linebacker Byron Young (knee) remained out of practice.
Coach Sean McVay said earlier this week that he expects Young to play. Young’s knee soreness limited him to only 35 of 81 snaps against the Bears in the divisional round, and he likely will be on a snap count if he plays Sunday.
Josiah Stewart and Desjuan Johnson saw more playing time in the divisional round.
Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. (shoulder) again was limited. He played only four snaps in last week’s game.
Outside linebacker Josaiah Stewart (knee) remained a full participant.
Offensive lineman Rob Havenstein (ankle) returned to practice on Thursday, with a limited session. The Rams opened Havenstein’s 21-day practice window.
The Rams are getting a veteran offensive lineman back on the practice field.
Via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press, Los Angeles has opened the 21-day practice window for right tackle Rob Havenstein.
Havenstein has been out with ankle and knee issues since mid-November. He has not played since the team’s Week 11 win over the Seahawks, with Warren McClendon taking over at the position and playing well to help L.A. reach the NFC Championship Game.
Because his practice window just opened on Thursday, it appears unlikely that he’ll be available to play in Sunday’s matchup against Seattle. But should the Rams advance to Super Bowl LX, Havenstein could be an option.
Havenstein has started 148 games for the Rams since the club selected him in the second round of the 2015 draft.
The Seahawks’ first injury report of the week appeared to present a big challenge for the team heading into the NFC Championship. The team’s top three left tackles did not participate in Wednesday’s practice.
Charles Cross returned from hamstring and knee injuries to start in Saturday’s divisional playoff win over the 49ers. He played only 36 of 53 snaps, though, before leaving with a foot injury.
Coach Mike Macdonald expressed optimism that Cross will play Sunday.
“Charles is good,” Macdonald said, via Cameron Van Til of Seattle Sports. “We’ll see how today goes, but we’re optimistic for the game.”
Cross missed three games with a hamstring injury, returning for last week’s practice, when he injured a knee. Now, he has a foot injury.
Macdonald said backup left tackle Josh Jones (knee/ankle) and third-stringer Amari Kight (knee) are “day-to-day” after they were non-participants on Wednesday.
Jones started at left tackle for the three games Cross missed, and Kight finished Saturday’s game at left tackle after Cross was injured.
Macdonald declined to reveal the Seahawks’ contingency plans if Cross, Jones and Kight can’t play Sunday.
“We have a plan for it,” Macdonald said. “I don’t really want to say what we’d do, but we have a plan for it.”
