RENTON - Jadarian Price is about to step into the biggest role of his football life, and he’ll do it without having taken a preseason snap.
The Seahawks’ rookie running back said Saturday he expected to get into at least one of Seattle’s three exhibition games last month, but that never happened. Instead, the 22-year-old first-round pick heads into Wednesday night’s NFL kick-off game against New England having not played in a game since Nov. 29, 2025, when he finished his Notre Dame career at Stanford.
“I was a little bit surprised, yeah,” Price said.
He broke down how the preseason went from his perspective: no surprise for the Aug. 15 opener against Dallas, uncertainty until the day before the Aug. 23 game at Tennessee, and then another missed chance after Seattle practiced hard leading into the Aug. 28 finale at Kansas City.
That makes the setup unusual, even by rookie standards. Price is expected to open as the lead back in an offense built around the run, yet he hasn’t logged live game action in 10 months.
“Yeah, I’m super excited,” Price said. “It’s been a dream come true - and it’s finally here.
It’s the moment. And I’ve prepared my whole life for it.”
Price’s last game came in Notre Dame’s 49-20 win over Stanford, when he carried six times for 15 yards and a touchdown. The Fighting Irish didn’t make the College Football Playoff and opted not to play in a bowl game, ending his college season there.
A lot changed after that. When Price last took the field, Seattle was still in the middle of a 12-game start to last season, with the Seahawks sitting one win away from their ninth victory.
Two months later, they were NFC champions and Super Bowl 60 winners. In the meantime, Price went through pre-draft training, attended the scouting combine, met with coach Mike Macdonald, general manager John Schneider and the Seahawks’ scouts, and eventually heard his name called by Seattle in May.
“Excited to see JD play,” Macdonald said Saturday.
“It’s a big week for him, his first game, and his first NFL carry at some point. That’s why we practice the way we do.
That’s why we train the way we do. It’s why we think the way we do.
Take a deep breath, go stack a great play and go do it again.
“We’re excited for it.”
Seattle’s decision to keep Price out of the preseason was tied to the state of the backfield around him. Zach Charbonnet remains on the physically-unable-to-perform list after reconstructive knee surgery in February and is out until at least mid-October.
Emanuel Wilson missed most of August with a hamstring injury. Jacardia Wright’s push for the 53-man roster was derailed when he missed most of the preseason with a leg injury.
Fullback Robbie Ouzts is on injured reserve with a neck issue and is done for the season.
That left George Holani as the only proven Seahawk available at the position.
So Seattle wrapped Price and Holani in bubble wrap through August, with the rookie’s only significant action against another team coming in the joint practice with Tennessee in Nashville two days before that preseason game. Price caught a touchdown pass from Sam Darnold against the Titans’ starting defense.
The Seahawks spent the preseason pushing Price in areas that matter most for an NFL back: pass catching and pass protection. Thomas Hammock, Seattle’s new running backs coach, fired him so many throws that it sounded like a pitcher working a bullpen session.
Price said that work was part of a longer process that began last winter, when he trained with wide receivers in preparation for the combine to sharpen parts of his game that rarely showed up in college behind Jeremiyah Love, the third pick in this year’s draft by the Arizona Cardinals.
“Yeah, I’ve improved a lot (in the pass game),” Price said.
“It’s something that I’ve always had in my bag. Going back to Notre Dame I practiced it a lot. People just didn’t see it in games, live.
“So it’s definitely something I’m excited to show.”
This isn’t the first long stretch between games Price has navigated. He once went 21 months without playing between his final high school game in November 2021 at Denison in his hometown north of Dallas and his Notre Dame debut in August 2023, when he scored a touchdown against Navy. He missed his entire first season at Notre Dame after rupturing his Achilles tendon in a June 2022 workout.
“Yeah,” Price said of the current wait, “it’s kind of similar.”
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