The Seahawks head into Week 1 with a familiar opponent on the other side and a far less familiar problem in their own huddle: who’s going to handle the workload at running back?
Seattle already knows what it needs to do against the Patriots. The tougher part is figuring out how to replace the production it lost, after the title game MVP walked away for a bigger contract in Kansas City. That issue only got sharper with Zach Charbonnet expected to miss at least the first four games of the season, even if the 12s have received some encouraging news there lately.
That leaves Seattle leaning on a backfield that hasn’t done much proving yet. The Seahawks have a new offensive coordinator in Brian Fleury, but the expectation is still that the team will try to keep a strong running game rolling. Whether this group has the right pieces to make that happen is the real question.
At the moment, George Holani is the only returning back from the championship team available for Week 1. With Charbonnet on the PUP list, Kenny McIntosh out because of a season-ending injury in camp, and Ken Walker III with the Chiefs, Holani is the lone holdover.
He barely got on the field as a rookie in 2025, with just four touches. Last season brought a bigger role: three carries turned into 22, and he added two catches.
Holani also scored once and picked up six first downs. That’s useful work, even if it came in a small sample.
Stretch that production over 240 touches, and it would project to 60 first downs and 10 touchdowns.
For comparison, K9 logged 252 touches and finished with 58 first downs and five touchdowns. But there’s a big gap between being a part-time contributor and being asked to carry the load. The encouraging part for Seattle is that Holani reportedly looked strong in camp, which at least softens some of the concern.
The next option is Emanuel Wilson, a former Packer who enters his fourth season in the league after serving as Green Bay’s top backup behind Josh Jacobs. At 5-10 and 226 pounds, he fits the profile of a power runner, but there’s more to his game than that.
Like Charbonnet, he has deceptive speed. He’s not Walker, but over the past two seasons he’s produced 998 yards on 228 carries, so the efficiency has been there.
Then there’s Jadarian Price, the rookie who may be the Seahawks’ most intriguing addition from the 2026 draft. It’s unusual that he didn’t even start at Notre Dame, but he’s already shown that college role doesn’t tell the whole story. Barry Sanders didn’t start at Oklahoma until Thurman Thomas graduated, and he turned out to be pretty decent.
Price may not match the 40 time K9 flashed, but in actual games he’s been a true burner. Even Mike Vrabel knows it.
Seattle has kept him out of preseason games, which tells you plenty about how thin the team is at the position. Still, in camp he’s apparently looked like exactly what John Schneider and Mike Macdonald hoped for when they stayed put and used the final pick of the first round on him.
The Seahawks believe Price can be their bellcow, and there’s confidence he can handle it. Even so, this is a very different running back room than the one Seattle started the 2025 season with. Add in the absence of Zach Ouzts, and the backfield remains the biggest question hanging over the defending champs.
In Other News...
DK Metcalf Just Reopened A Seahawks Debate Fans Never Dropped
DK Metcalfs exit from Seattle was never just a roster move, and the way things have played out has only made the old debate louder. He asked the Seahawks for a trade before the 2025 season, landed with the Steelers, and Seattle responded by turning the page with draft-pick compensation and a major contract for Jaxon Smith-Njigba. From the outside, it was the kind of decision that invites instant comparison, especially after the Seahawks went on to win Super Bowl LX while Pittsburghs run ended in the wild-card round.
Metcalf, though, is not treating the result like a reason to revisit his choice. He has said he understands the consequences of asking out and has congratulated his former teammates, even as the Steelers committed to him with a four-year, $132 million extension. For Seattle fans, it keeps the conversation in a familiar place: whether the franchise got the timing right, whether Metcalf got what he wanted, and how much a championship ring changes the hindsight around a trade that was already going to be dissected for years. [Read more 🡒]
Cooper Kupps New Seahawks Partnership Goes Well Beyond Sneakers
Brooks Running has officially stepped into the Seahawks orbit as the teams new Running Partner, and the rollout comes with Cooper Kupp serving as one of three new global ambassadors. The arrangement fits Seattles sports culture neatly enough, but it is aimed at more than branding and sideline visibility. Brooks is tying the partnership to community work across Washington state, with a focus on supporting high school football coaches and athletes through programs such as Coach of the Week and Future Run grants.
The broader push also reaches into girls flag football, where Brooks plans to recognize coaches and players as the sport keeps growing in the region. The company expects to spotlight those efforts at a Seahawks home game, turning what could have been a straightforward endorsement deal into a much wider effort around local football. For Kupp and the Seahawks, it is a partnership built as much on community footing as on what happens on game day. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Could Get A Big Backfield Boost Sooner Than Expected
Zach Charbonnets start to the season remains on hold, but theres at least a little more optimism around his recovery than there was when the Seahawks first braced for a long absence. The running back is on the physically unable to perform list after the knee injury he carried out of last season, which means he will miss the first four games, but coach Mike Macdonald said Charbonnet is progressing well and could be back sooner than the December timeframe that had seemed to be the target.
For Seattle, the possibility matters because Charbonnets return would give the backfield a jolt at a point in the season when teams usually start absorbing wear and tear. Still, nothing is locked in yet. He has to pass a physical before the Seahawks can activate him, and with no firm return date in place, the team is left waiting to see whether the encouraging signs turn into an actual midseason comeback. [Read more 🡒]