Walking off the practice field at San Jose State University four days before the Seahawks were set to face the Patriots in Super Bowl LX, Julian Love turned to safeties coach Jeff Howard and casually said, "If Nick can't go, I'll play nickel."

Less than an hour earlier, standout rookie Nick Emmanwori had gone down with an ankle injury that, in the moment, looked like it might have been significant. And Love, a starting safety for the Seahawks for three seasons and a one-time Pro-Bowl selection, thought nothing of changing positions a few days before the biggest game of his life. Emmanwori ended up being fine, and the Seahawks were able to play with their usual lineup as they shut out the Patriots for three quarters on the way to a 29-13 win, but that little post-practice exchange said a lot about Love.

The Seahawks built the NFL's best defense in 2025 not just because there was a lot of talent on the field (there was), or because Mike Macdonald's defensive scheme is the best in football (it is), but also because general manager John Schneider and company assembled a group of players who love the game and love playing together, and are willing to sacrifice individual glory for the good of the defense as whole. And with the Super Bowl rapidly approaching, Love once again exemplified that mentality.

It wouldn't have been the first time Love, a versatile defensive back who has played everything from corner to nickel to safety dating back to his college days at Notre Dame, had changed positions for the good of the defense, but to offer that up days before the Super Bowl, having not practiced in that role all season, that's taking the team-first approach to another level.

To Macdonald, Love's willingness to play wherever is best for the defense, "exemplifies the mentality we're looking for out of all of our guys." Though in a candid moment, Love, who has earned the nickname "the Mayor" from teammates and coaches because he is so polished and never says anything controversial, admits there was some ego involved as well when he offered up that pre-Super Bowl position switch.

"It's like, 'OK, I can do it. No one can do it other than me. If anyone can do it and fix this situation, it's going to be me,'" Love said, chuckling at his rare lack of humility. "I don't outwardly express that, but that's kind of how I operate internally, I think I have to to be at the level I'm at. It was, OK, Nick's down, thankfully, Ty Okoda was play great ball all season, we had Coby (Bryant), so immediately it's like, OK, I'm going through scenarios quickly in my mind, OK, what can we do here? If we keep 'Spoon here, blah, blah blah, then the biggest thing was, 'We have three really good safeties, let me play what Nick has been doing, and I think we lose less.' That's all happening within minutes of him going down… Even right after it happened, I took reps. 'I was like, don't put me at safety the rest of practice, let me play Nick's role.' It was kind of scary for sure, I don't want to embarrass myself in front of millions of people, but I knew if I started working on it then, I knew with a couple of days and a couple of reps I'd be fine."

Fortunately for Love and the Seahawks, Emmanwori was OK, Love was able to play his usual position, and he contributed a fourth-quarter interception with a 35-yard return that killed what little momentum the Patriots might have been building after finally scoring a few minutes earlier.

And a discussion of a position switch that didn't end up happening for Love is relevant now, five months after that Super Bowl win, because Love is, once again, telling his coaches he is happy to do whatever is best for the defense.

While there is a lot of overlap in what Macdonald's defense asks of its two safeties, there are nuances to each spot, and last season when Coby Bryant was sidelined by injury for a couple of games, Love switched to Bryant's spot so Ty Okada, who had previously started nine games in place of an injured Love, could stick with the role in which he had thrived in Love's absence. With Bryant leaving in free agency, the Seahawks have a lot of great options at safety in Love, Okada, rookie Bud Clark and others, not to mention Emmanwori in his unique role that has him play everywhere from on the line of scrimmage to linebacker to nickel. But while talent and versatility aren't an issue, what does need to be sorted out this summer, with Bryant no longer on the team, is who will play where.

"Naturally, I'm always like, 'Just throw me in at whatever and I'll pay that role. Cater the defense to where everyone else feels comfortable,'" Love said before smiling and adding, "I probably should stop doing that. I probably should be like, 'This is what I do, this is my role, this is what I'm best at, let me go out and do that.' I think there's a sense of that, because we have a lot of versatility—Bud brings a lot to the table, Ty Okada brings a lot to the table, Nick brings everything to the table on defense, so that allows me to kind of be myself, play my role and do what I do best, thankfully."

Love, who began his career with the Giants, first thriving on special teams and in sub packages before eventually becoming a full-time starter in 2022, signed with the Seahawks in 2023 when, to begin with, he was the team's third safety behind Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs. Injuries to Adams pushed Love into a starting role, and he played so well he became a Pro-Bowler for the first time. The following year, Macdonald took over as head coach and was quickly impressed, not just by Love's playmaking ability, but by his leadership and his willingness to do whatever is best for the team.

"That's Julian, he's the Mayor, man," Macdonald said last month when asked about Love saying he'll play wherever is best for the defense. "One of our leaders on our team, and that exemplifies the mentality we're looking for out of all of our guys. It's never really a question with Julian, you just assume he's going to feel that way, and that's a testament to who he is every day. We're never trying to take away from his ability to make plays or get him away from the action. We're always thinking about, 'How do we get him closer to the action?' Sometimes, because he is so talented and so versatile, you do have to put him in other situations to round out the 11 and make sure we're the best 11 out there, but the fact that that's not an issue just makes us a better team, so that's just a testament to him."

Veteran defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who was traded to the Giants midway through Love's rookie season, then was traded to the Seahawks halfway through the 2023 season, has been teammates with Love for all or part of the past seven seasons. Love has grown as a player and a leader since those two first became teammates in 2019, but the veteran safety still has a lot of the traits that impressed Williams when Love was still a rookie.

"To me he's always been that guy, which is so special," Williams said. "I got to the Giants his rookie year, and he's been the same guy. He's one of those guys that he has a process. He's going to show up to work with enthusiasm every day. To me over time, the biggest growth I've seen is everyone else noticing it. That's what is so cool; he's finally getting his flowers—he has been for a few years now, I know that—but it's cool for me to see someone that I've seen at a young age grow into a respected player in the league. We were just sharing about that the other day at practice, that we've played with each other for eight years now. That's the longest I've ever played with anybody."

As for that "Mayor" nickname, Love isn't sure who started it, though several political nicknames have been tossed around in recent years before "the Mayor" took hold. Karl Scott, the team's defensive passing game coordinator and defensive back's coach, will refer to Love as Barack Obama Love, Julian Obama or Obama Love, Love explained, while former Seahawks outside linebacker Boye Mafe went with "the Senator," then, as Love noted, "a few people coined the Mayor, and that stuck."

"It's strictly about the way I talk and that I'm usually politically correct," Love said with a laugh, clarifying that politics are not in his future. "Mike constantly says, 'You're going to get into politics after football, right?' No I'm not, I'm going to do the farthest thing from politics."

So the Seahawks' "Mayor" may not have a future in politics, but he is all about helping out his community, both in Seattle and back home in Chicago. Love, the Seahawk’ nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award last season, recently hosted his annual youth football camp at his alma mater, Nazareth Academy, hosting more than 500 kids at the free camp.

"It's really a priority we keep it free, I would hate for people to pay for this," said Love, who brought his new Super Bowl ring to camp to show the kids. "A lot of the stuff I've done over the past few years has been surrounding kids. More than anything, it might sound simple, but I think kids just appreciate when people are accessible in their community… These kids are able to come up to me and ask me whatever questions they want. I think it's important. Growing up, I knew no one who was in the league, so for these kids in the area just to realize who I am and realize I'm just a normal person, it's doable, that's part of why I try to be around in the community."