Zach

Charbonnet

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.

Charbonnet scooted past a defensive back on the edge after an impressive seal block by A.J. Barner got him to free space in the first quarter. It wound up being the game’s only touchdown. He finishes the regular season with 12 scores and will get the week off ahead of Seattle’s Divisional Round game against the lowest remaining NFC seed.

Charbonnet’s second two-score game of the season gives him 11 total scores on the year, making this the first time in his three-year career he’s reached double digits. This was also his first 100-yard game of the season on the ground. Charbonnet was the clear “hot hand” in Seattle’s ever-frustrating backfield, though Kenneth Walker III did reach 17 touches. The Seahawks have not altered their two-back approach all year, and we expect it to maintain for Week 18 against the 49ers and on into the playoffs.

Charbonnet vultured a touchdown away from Kenneth Walker after Walker got the Seahawks inside the red zone on a long screen pass. He also was the recipient of one of the flukiest two-point conversions ever, as a backwards pass that went off the dome of Jared Verse was recovered by Charbonnet on a play where neither team knew the ball was live. Still counts. The 24-year-old was a checkdown target for Sam Darnold as Darnold was under duress for most of the game, but he didn’t do much with those opportunities. Charbonnet will be a touchdown-dependent FLEX option for Week 17 against the Panthers.

It was another frustrating day for both Seattle backs. Charbonnet did next to nothing with his eight carries (and did not see a target) while Ken Walker had 17 yards on nine carries. Charbonnet has more weekly touchdown upside because he’s been the team’s primary inside-the-ten option for most of the 2025 season. Even so, he won’t be playable in Week 16 against the Rams. He had 11 carries for 37 yards in the Hawks’ first meeting with the Rams.

A week after posting just 29 yards on ten rushing attempts against the Falcons, Walker was ineffective once again against a middling Colts rush defense. Zach Charbonnet, meanwhile, had eight rushes for 31 yards and ran 16 pass routes to 14 routes for Walker. With one rushing touchdown since Week 4 and no path to consistent pass game usage in the balanced Seattle offense, Walker is barely usable in any fantasy format. The Seahawks backfield is perfectly formulated to destroy all potential fantasy value. They play the Rams in Week 16.