RENTON -- A day that was "absolutely a dream come true'' in the words of second-year Seahawks safety Ty Okada also served as the latest exhibit for what Mike Macdonald hopes becomes a guiding tenet of the team for as long as he is the coach -- earning playing time through practice, and then seeing that pay off for both the player and team on the field.
Okada was elevated off the practice squad on Saturday and then got the first significant playing time of his career when Seattle upset the 49ers at Levi's Stadium, playing 25 snaps.
Okada, who originally signed with Seattle as an undrafted free agent out of Montana State in 2023, had played only six defensive snaps before Sunday, all coming in mop-up time of a 34-14 win at Atlanta last month.
Sunday, each snap he played was vital.
The Seahawks were again without veteran safeties Rayshawn Jenkins and K'Von Wallace, who were each on injured reserve. Second-year safety Jerrick Reed II, who is back after returning three weeks ago from a knee injury, was the only other safety on the 53-man roster last week aside from starters Julian Love and Coby Bryant.
But when Seattle put in its game plan last week to make liberal use of three-safety sets that the team wanted to use against the 49ers, the Seahawks turned to Okada.
Of Okada's 25 snaps, 20 came on passing plays. On almost all, Okada played as a deep safety, which allowed Love and/or Bryant to play closer to the line of scrimmage as essentially a slot corner in nickel or dime formations.
It was part of a scheme that helped the Seahawks hold the 49ers to 277 yards, their lowest total of the season and far off the 483 San Francisco gained against Seattle in a 36-34 win over the Seahawks at Lumen Field on Oct. 10.
Love had eight tackles, Bryant five, each playing big roles in also helping Seattle hold the 49ers to just 131 yards rushing on 27 carries compared to 228 on 33 in October.
And while Okada's stats may not have been much -- he had two tackles, one unassisted -- Macdonald on Wednesday praised the way he helped solidify the back end, and allowed the team to use others in multiple roles.
"You're taking Julian and you moved him from safety and he played some down-like second-level type stuff at nickel and dime,'' Macdonald said. "He deserves credit for playing three positions in that game. And then Ty coming in and playing good football for us, calming everything down, all the communication.''
Okada also played in five games last year as a practice squad elevation, but solely on special teams.
He used that experience to emerge as one of the standouts of the preseason, making nine tackles and an interception.
Each were steps toward his ultimate objective of showing he can be an every-down NFL player.
Sunday, playing a key role in a regular-season game for the first time, checked off his biggest box yet.
"I think you set goals for yourself and to be able to achieve those one step at a time is a blessing,'' he said. "I've still got a lot more goals for myself. But notching that one was a great experience and I'm extremely thankful for it.''
Sunday he also became the latest example of a player who earned a significant opportunity by what he had shown the team in practice.
Bryant, who had played sparingly early in the year as he made the transition to full-time safety, emerged as a starter in the wake of the injury to Jenkins, having earned the coach's trust by how he'd prepared during the week.
Cornerback Josh Jobe, signed to the practice squad in August, also has for now surpassed Tre Brown on the depth chart, also having earned the team's trust with his practice.
"We want to be a program built on development and bringing guys along and you earn your opportunities and then we want to celebrate it when you go out there and you show what you can do,'' Macdonald said. "So we've had several examples of that, and hopefully that's the message to the rest of the guys. That's how we want to operate and that's where you earn everything is just a day-by-day in the meeting room, walkthroughs, how you go about your business, type of person you are, all that stuff. We're trying to make people grow in all aspects of their life."
It's not a new thing, of course, for coaches to reward those who play well in practice.
But it's one thing for coaches to say it and another for it to come to fruition.
"It's a big thing in our organization, just having that next-man-up mentality,'' Okada said.
Okada said he found out going into the week that he might have a substantial role in the game plan against the 49ers.
"I didn't quite know the number of snaps,'' he said. "I just prepared for it to be a lot or a little or whatever they needed.''
Okada this week may go back to his prior role of staying ready on the practice squad.
Jenkins was designated to return to practice on Wednesday and participated fully and Macdonald said he could be back as soon as Sunday's game against Arizona.
With seven games in seven weeks to close out the season, though, depth is also important.
"Ty being able to step up, getting Rayshawn back probably this week, I mean it's just good problems to have,'' Macdonald said. "Good players, (that) play multiple spots. You don't want to get too cute with it because then you get kind of in disarray a little bit. So, trying to maximize our continuity back there as well as seamlessly getting Rayshawn back into the fold.''
No matter what happens from here, though, Okada will have always Sunday. Knowing of his possible role allowed for his parents and a good friend from high school to attend the game. A few other friends and former teammates also made the trip, having already been the area to see Montana State play at UC-Davis -- about a two-hour drive away -- on Saturday.
"Just an absolute blast,'' he said.