Injuries suck. Seeing Zach Charbonnet go down last week was enough to make a grown man shed a single tear.
Charbonnet will miss the remainder of the Seattle Seahawks’ magical 2025 playoff run. Charb’s 2026 season will most likely be affected by the ACL injury as well. While not a hard and fast rule, generally, people have used the rough timeframe of a year and a half for players to get back to their previous levels of explosiveness.
While some questioned at times why No. 26 was getting such a large
slice of the pie when Kenneth Walker III had more efficient rushing numbers, having a backup who can carry the load and act as a closer is a luxury and maybe even an advantage. One could theorize that his work in the offense (including his pass protection help) aided in keeping K9 fresh and defenders on their toes.
Charbonnet was also an adept power and short yardage back. He became the first Seahawks runner since Marshawn Lynch to hit double digit rushing TD’s.
Can Walker now step up into a larger, bell cow role? Will he need to? He did last weekend. After Charbonnet went down, Ken Walker went off. Rushing for 116 with 3 tuddies at 6.1 yards per clip will get the job done. The only other Seattle back with 3+ rushing scores in a playoff game was the MVP, Shaun Alexander.
Among half-backs with at least 200 attempts, Walker had the 8th-highest YPC average (4.6).
An even larger scope question that Seattle fans must face: does KWIII only have one or two more games left as a Seattle Seahawk? His rookie deal is up at the conclusion of this season, and before the Charbonnet’s injury, I doubted that he would be resigned. Teams don’t hand out huge second contracts to running backs anymore.
That all has a chance to flip today in the NFC Championship Game.
How the performance of this running back tandem of Walker and probably the recently returned from IR, George Holani, may very well decide how Seattle handles the position in a pivotal offseason.
If these two roll, pack a punch and help to drive the offense for Seahawk success and efficiency, this might be the duo that the team features heading into the beginning of next season.
A stat nerd might look at the YPC marks for the backs involved. Walker (4.6) has the clear advantage in the 2025 season when compared to Charbonnet (4) and Holani (3.3).
This could truly be Kenneth’s chance to go nuclear and make a big-time statement about his candidacy as one of the top backs in the league. Could that suddenly emblazon him into the Seahawks brain trust’s collective minds as a necessary cog in their operation? Totally possible.
Now, don’t forget that Kenny McIntosh could be back to full power by midseason (if we are going by the 1.5-year ACL timeframe). I had personal excitement to see him finally get a crack this year before he was hurt in training camp. He could factor in, as he averaged 5.5 YPC on a very small sample size of 31 carries.
If the run game cannot get on track and look like they miss Charbonnet against L.A., then we could face a pivot point where the RB room looks very different next year.
If Walker and Holani do their thing, you may not feel the need to highly prioritize adding another back (besides the resigning of K9) this offseason. It will also likely mean that the Seahawks gave themselves a shot to become world champions once again under GM, John Schneider. It’s all right there in their collective grasps.
