The Seahawks are making moves in their running back room, and the latest one points to a bigger roster squeeze ahead.
On Monday, Seattle agreed to terms with veteran Joe Mixon and rookie Robert Henry Jr., a pair of additions that suggest the team is still searching for answers behind the backs currently healthy. That search matters because the status of Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet is still murky.
Henry, who went undrafted out of UTSA, originally landed with the Washington Commanders on their practice squad. Because Seattle signed him off another team’s practice squad, he has to be added to the active roster, which means another player will have to be released.
What Henry brings is speed, not bruising power. The 5-foot-9, 196-pound back looks more like a third-down option than someone built to hammer away on 2-and-short. He’s quick and could be explosive, but he does not look ready to carry an offense snap after snap.
At the NFL Combine this year, Henry ran a 4.52-second 40-yard dash and posted a 37-inch vertical jump along with a 10-foot-4 broad jump. Those numbers show a player with plenty of athletic ability, even if he is not exactly the standard NFL prototype.
The Seahawks’ interest in him likely started before the draft. General manager John Schneider clearly saw something worth tracking, because pulling a player off a practice squad is not a random decision. Seattle would have had some sense of what Henry could offer before he ever got to Washington’s practice squad.
The broader picture still comes back to the injuries in Seattle’s backfield. Price is already on injured reserve with a chest injury and will miss at least the next three games.
He could be out longer. Charbonnet is in his 21-day window, which means the Seahawks have to decide whether to activate him before that clock runs out.
If they don’t, he would be out for the season. He is expected to return eventually, but not in Week 5.
Seattle usually carries three running backs on the active roster, and Mixon is expected to join the practice squad once he passes his physical before being elevated as needed. That effectively gives the Seahawks four backs for now, and five once Charbonnet is back. That’s a crowded room.
For the moment, the Seahawks are dealing with the opposite problem they had before: not enough healthy bodies, and now perhaps too many waiting to return. George Holani, Emanuel Wilson, and Velus Jones Jr. are the three backs on the roster in Week 4, but the bigger question is what the room looks like if Price and Charbonnet really do come back. If they don’t, Seattle’s latest additions make even more sense.
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