SAN JOSE \u2014 At this time a year ago, Connor O\u2019Toole was coming off a second year shortened by injury at the University of Utah.<\/p>\n
The talented edge rusher had shown during his time in Salt Lake City that he could be an impactful player at the NFL level, but those injuries had shortened his opportunities at the tail end of his collegiate career to showcase those talents.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to February 2026, and one of football\u2019s most coveted prizes is within reach for O\u2019Toole.<\/p>\n
While O\u2019Toole went undrafted, he found himself with the Seattle Seahawks, made the active roster as an undrafted free agent \u2014 not the easiest of paths \u2014 and will suit up for the Seahawks on Sunday in Super Bowl LX (4:30 p.m. MST, NBC) when they face the New England Patriots at Levi\u2019s Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight after the draft, going undrafted, the biggest thing was just trying to prove myself and make a name for myself and get a roster spot ultimately,\u201d O\u2019Toole told the Deseret News on Wednesday during the Seahawks\u2019 media session at the San Jose Convention Center. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut coming into a place that has such a great defense \u2014 whole team, honestly \u2014 but such great vets that I\u2019ve been able to learn from and suck up (info from) as much as I can, it\u2019s been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
What he\u2019s learned from his first NFL season<\/p>\n
In O\u2019Toole\u2019s first season in the NFL, he has primarily played on special teams. He logged 125 total snaps during the regular season, with 97 of those on special teams.<\/p>\n
In the postseason, the 23-year-old outside linebacker has played 41 special teams snaps, or 77.4% of the Seahawks\u2019 special teams snaps in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
While O\u2019Toole had minimal stats this season, including eight tackles, his best play of the year came when he recovered a fumble on a kickoff return in a Week 9 win over Washington. That takeaway led to a Seahawks touchdown the next play.<\/p>\n
This first year has been a learning experience, one he\u2019s embraced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NFL season is a lot longer than the college season. What goes into that? How to take care of your body, how to prepare for games, week in, week out \u2014 that\u2019s been a huge thing,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. <\/p>\n
During the preseason, O\u2019Toole showed the kind of promise he might have as a pro, when he had a sack and nine QB pressures. This year, he\u2019s been able to lean on edge rushers like DeMarcus Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu to help his learning curve.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, the D-line group as a whole, we got a very experienced veteran group. And the unique thing is, everyone\u2019s had different stops in their careers, and everyone has a different style of play, or they handle things different ways,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cSo depending on the situation that I\u2019m in, there\u2019s a handful of different guys that I can go to, and they\u2019ll point me in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, they\u2019re one win away from winning a Super Bowl, which would be just the second in Seahawks franchise history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy. Some of the guys (on our team) who\u2019ve been in the league for like, 10 years, and this is our first Super Bowl. So to be able to be here my rookie year is a blessing, super cool experience,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201c(I\u2019m) just trying to soak in the moment and also get prepared for the game at same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Utah Utes defensive end Connor O’Toole (81) and Utah Utes defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa (57) hurry Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Ryan Staub (16) in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. Utah won 23-17. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News O\u2019Toole\u2019s time at Utah, and how it prepared him for the NFL<\/p>\n
O\u2019Toole came to Utah as a three-star wide receiver out of New Mexico, and his first year \u2014 the COVID-shortened 2020 season \u2014 he didn\u2019t see any action.<\/p>\n
After earning minimal playing time in 2021, he transitioned over to defense, making the switch to defensive end in spring 2022.<\/p>\n
That change launched O\u2019Toole on a trajectory that helped land him in the NFL.<\/p>\n
In the 2022 season, O\u2019Toole played in all 14 games and started five while posting 41 tackles, four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.<\/p>\n
He became a fixture on the defensive side of the ball for the Utes, and though injuries limited him to eight games in each of his junior and senior seasons at Utah, O\u2019Toole showed those flashes of what he\u2019s capable of when he was on the field.<\/p>\n
He had 4.5 sacks as a junior, then 2.5 in 2024, all while finishing his time at Utah with 104 career tackles and 15 tackles for loss, along with four pass deflections, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great place. I learned so much there and grew so much there. I never had the career that I quite wanted to football-wise, just had some injuries my last two years there that I wasn\u2019t able to play for a large majority of it, which was unfortunate, but I wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cUtah was a great place. It\u2019s like my second home. I\u2019m forever grateful for my time that I had there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd (0) greets Seattle Seahawks linebacker Connor O’Toole (57) after an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 12 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. | John Raoux, Associated Press <\/p>\n
Now, he\u2019s a part of a brotherhood of Utes \u2014 more than 30 strong \u2014 that is in the NFL. That includes another former Utah defender, cornerback Miles Battle, who\u2019s a cornerback for New England on the Patriots\u2019 practice squad.<\/p>\n
Either way, one former Ute will win a Super Bowl ring Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of of my good friends are playing for a handful of different teams, and so to be able to chat with them, talk to them, there\u2019s another group of guys that I can go to and talk with, and they\u2019ll give me advice,\u201d O\u2019Toole said of Utah\u2019s representation in the NFL. <\/p>\n
\u201cGuys who have been through it, gone before me in that sense, but it\u2019s such a great brotherhood. And Utah is so connected. The culture there is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weighing in on Morgan Scalley\u2019s promotion<\/p>\n
In December, O\u2019Toole\u2019s former defensive coordinator at Utah, Morgan Scalley, was elevated to the Utes\u2019 head coach after Kyle Whittingham stepped down and eventually ended up in the same role as Michigan.<\/p>\n
Scalley is a Utah Man through and through \u2014 in addition to playing collegiately for the Utes, he has coached at Utah since 2007, including the past 10 seasons as defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Toole believes he is a perfect fit for the Utah head coach position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super excited to see Coach Scalley as a head coach. Ever since I\u2019ve been at Utah, I always knew that he was going to be a great head coach. I\u2019m super excited to see him step into that role. He\u2019s going to do great the way that he established his culture, especially being on the defensive side of the ball. I saw that firsthand,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. <\/p>\n
Now that culture that Scalley established on the defensive side at Utah will have the opportunity to permeate throughout the entire program. And his impact \u2014 and care \u2014 goes beyond the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor him to do that with the entire team, he\u2019s a phenomenal coach. His passion is unmatched. He has great energy, and he\u2019s a football genius, with those skills that he has,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great man. He cares about his guys. He loves his guys more beyond just the football field. So I know guys will buy into the culture that he has, and you know he\u2019s going to do a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Utah Utes head coach Morgan Scalley coaches during the Las Vegas Bowl at Allegiant Stadium against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 At this time a year ago, Connor O\u2019Toole was coming off a second year shortened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,1852,6,238,237,261,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-730609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-news-feed-national","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-seahawks","12":"tag-seattle","13":"tag-seattle-seahawks","14":"tag-seattleseahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116016557405116176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}