The Seahawks will have to open the 2026 season without Zach Charbonnet, and that’s a significant early hit to their backfield plans.
Seattle placed Charbonnet on the Physically Unable to Perform list, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, which means he has to sit out at least the first four games of the year. Charbonnet is still working back from a torn ACL, and the team chose not to rush him. Instead, the Seahawks are letting him continue his rehab with the bigger goal in mind: getting him fully healthy before he returns to action.
That leaves Seattle leaning on a different group at running back to start the season. Jadarian Price and George Holani are expected to handle a larger workload, with Holani already having stepped into a bigger role when Charbonnet went down. Price, meanwhile, was Seattle’s first-round pick in 2026, and the Seahawks are counting on both players to carry the rushing attack while Charbonnet is out.
When Charbonnet does come back, he should slide right back into an important spot in the offense. Over his three seasons with Seattle, he has piled up 1,761 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns. In 2025, he turned 184 carries into 730 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Seattle’s ground game already looked different after Kenneth Walker left in free agency, and now it will be without Charbonnet too, at least for the first month of the season. For now, the Seahawks are banking on patience. Later on, they’re hoping Charbonnet’s return gives the offense a different kind of punch.
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Jadarian Price Suddenly Has A Real Seahawks Opportunity
The Seahawks backfield took an early hit when Zach Charbonnet was placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform list after suffering a torn ACL, leaving Seattle without one of its most important running backs for at least four games. With that kind of absence, opportunities tend to appear quickly in the NFL, and this one may belong to rookie Jadarian Price, whose path to real snaps just got a lot clearer.
Price arrives with a productive college rsum from Notre Dame, and Seattle now has a reason to see how that translates on Sundays. The Seahawks did not draft him simply to fill practice reps, and Charbonnets setback gives the rookie a chance to show he can be more than depth, potentially carving out a larger role while the team waits for the backfield to stabilize. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Roster Cuts Left One Position Looking Uncomfortably Thin
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One area still looks a little too lean, though, and its the safety room. Seattle waived several safeties as part of the cutdown, leaving only three on the roster, and the secondarys depth remains unsettled with some of those players likely beginning on the practice squad. For a team that has spent much of camp trying to piece together its back-end options, the numbers suggest this part of the roster may still be in flux. [Read more 🡒]
Former Seahawks Edge Is Already Facing Another Roster Twist
The roster churn that always follows cutdown day is already hitting Atlanta, and one former Seahawk is in the middle of it. The Falcons used waiver claims to add edge rushers Yasir Abdullah and Jared Ivey, along with offensive tackle Cameron Williams, which means all three have to stick on the 53-man roster for at least two days before any more paperwork can happen.
For Seattle fans, the notable part is the ripple effect, because those additions force three players off Atlantas initial roster and create another round of transactions almost immediately. None of the Falcons recent cuts was claimed on waivers, either, so the team still has the option of bringing those players back on the practice squad if it wants to keep them in the fold. [Read more 🡒]