Zach

Charbonnet

Washington, after excelling at the NFL Combine, has been linked to a few teams, including the Broncos. Bowen said Washington, who went for 1,070 yards and eight touchdowns at Arkansas in 2025, would be a solid fit for Seattle’s offense. “Under new coordinator Brian Fleury — who coached with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco — we should expect a run game that leans on motion and movement in both zone and gap concepts,” Bowen said, adding that Washington would likely be a Day Two pick. “Washington has the lateral agility to fit in that scheme, and he can dart through daylight with his 4.33 speed. His frame can handle NFL volume, plus he can produce on swings and screens as a pass catcher.” The Seahawks backfield is in flux after Ken Walker left for Kansas City in free agency and Zach Charbonnet continues to recover from a late-season knee injury. The Seahawks signed former Packers RB Emanuel Wilson in free agency. Washington would make sense for Seattle if the team looks to bolster its backfield in the second or third round.

Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL in the Seahawks’ divisional round win over the 49ers last postseason, and didn’t have surgery to repair the injury until February. While there were concerns that Charbonnet may miss all of 2026 due to the timing of his injury and the surgery Macdonald confirmed that he expects to have the fourth-year RB back at some point this season. In the meantime, the loss of Kenneth Walker, combined with Charbonnet’s injury, puts the Seahawks in a unique position at RB to start the year. The team did go out and add Emanuel Wilson via free agency earlier this month, but the Seahawks could be in play for a Day 2 rookie at the position to pair with Wilson, George Holani, and a slew of other backups until Charbonnet is able to return. Charbonnet rushed for a career-high 730 yards and 12 touchdowns last season with the Seahawks and will presumably serve as their RB1 once healthy, but he’s a near lock to open the season on the PUP list, and could miss extensive time to start the year.

Per The Athletic’s Mike Dugar, Schneider “once again brought up Holani unprompted.” Schneider punctuated his thoughts on Holani by saying, “every time he goes in the game, he just performs.” Earlier this week, Dugar said he believes the Seahawks will “probably” use one of their first three picks on a running back, but left Holani out of his comments while exploring the topic. Today, the Seahawks signed former Packers RB Emanuel Wilson, a burly rusher who played well as a backup and fill-in starter last season. The Seahawks used RB Kenneth Walker, now a Chief, as their lead rusher. No. 2 RB Zach Charbonnet, currently rehabbing a torn ACL, led the way on passing downs and in short-yardage and green zone situations. His return date is unknown. Wilson and Holani are a lesser duo, so Dugar’s draft-day expectations have decent odds of coming to fruition. Perhaps Holani will get a chance to compete for a receiving role, though.

Schneider added that Charbonnet’s “outlook is good” before complimenting the running back’s “professionalism, work ethic, etc.” The Seahawks signed the former Packers RB Emanuel Wilson earlier today, who could compete for carries early on if Charbonnet is not ready to play in Week 1. No word yet on Charbonnet’s expected spring and summer participation level.

“If you’re betting on anybody, you’re going to bet on Zach, so we’ll go from there. But he’s not going to do anything in the spring or anything like that,” Macdonald finished. A torn ACL suffered in the playoffs will almost certainly eat into Charbonnet’s regular season. The Seahawks could bring Kenneth Walker back, but if they don’t, Charbonnet may eventually be the lead back in 2026 — it’d just be a matter of when his recovery concluded and how comfortable the team felt giving him the role at that point.

Retaining other free agents and signing Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a new mega-deal are the Seattle’s priorities this offseason. They’ll likely let Walker, Super Bowl MVP who propelled the Seahawks to a championship this season, explore free agency in the coming months. Walker will have a range of suitors, including teams that will surely be willing to make him a clearcut lead back after Walker shared the workload with the ultra-inefficient Zach Charbonnet in 2024 and 2025. Look for Walker to get a huge deal — as far as running back contracts go — from a team ready to make him the centerpiece of their offense. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said the Seahawks front office might “believe that Walker won’t get what he’s looking for on the open market” and make a run at bringing him back to Seattle on a short-term deal.

Walker is set to be a free agent this offseason and has been highly valuable to the Seahawks during their postseason run to the Super Bowl. Walker has rushed 38 times for 178 yards and four touchdowns for the Seahawks in their two playoff games while catching another seven passes for 70 yards. The knee injury Zach Charbonnet suffered in the team’s Divisional Round win vs. the 49ers is expected to sideline him for the start of next season, which will likely play a role in how aggressive the Seahawks are in re-signing Walker. Speaking with the media earlier in the week, head coach Mike Macdonald also said the team wants Walker back this offseason. We’ll see how quickly a deal gets worked out in the coming months, but there seems to be mutual interest on both sides at this point.

Macdonald said Charbonnet has “a significant knee injury” and followed that up by saying “he’s got a good long road to come back.” The team later confirmed it as a torn ACL. It’s a tough blow to the third-year back who rushed for a season-high 730 yards and 12 touchdowns this season, and added another 20 receptions for 144 scoreless yards. Charbonnet’s 2025 season is now over, and the severity of his knee injury puts his availability for the start of next season in doubt. Kenneth Walker will likely handle the majority of the backfield workload for the majority of the playoffs and could be a lock to return to the team in 2026 with Charbonnet’s availability now in doubt.

Charbonnett left the Seahawks’ Divisional Round win over the 49ers with a knee injury. The team listed him as questionable to return, but he never reappeared in the blowout game. Macdonald said Charbonnet will undergo an MRI on his knee and the team is optimistic. He at least has a shot at playing in the NFC Championship game. If he doesn’t, Kenneth Walker, who just ran for 116 yards and three scores, will be in line for another massive day.

He was tackled awkwardly on a third-and-1 carry, spent some time in the medical tent after walking off gingerly with trainers, and was later spotted walking to the locker room. Charbonnet had five carries for 20 yards before leaving. Kenneth Walker seems likely to carry the bulk of the load with Charbonnet out, though George Holani could get extra work here seeing as how as of this typing it’s 24-6 Seahawks.