Ken Walker will miss time, Seahawks must be jinxed at running back

The Seattle Seahawks are dealing with another running back who has health concerns. Ken Walker will miss time with a hernia.

Hopefully, Seahawks rookie running back Ken Walker III will not be jinxed by the same fate that beset Rashaad Penny and Chris Carson where he is injured seemingly all the time. But Walker is now already out the next two preseason games with what head coach Pete Carroll says is “a little hernia thing.”

I am not sure what “a little hernia thing” is but I am pretty sure I never want one as those can be very painful. Plus, they can also get worse so it makes sense to hold Walker out of the next two, basically meaningless, games.

But the Walker injury might also cause 12s to have a little PTSD as we are used to seeing running backs that don’t stay healthy.

Seahawks rookie running back Ken Walker has a hernia

Chris Carson showed a lot of promise in his five seasons but also had two years where he played four games each. He also had to retire in training camp after he suffered a neck injury last year. It was the right move for Carson but still tough to see because of what he was capable of doing on the football field.

Rashaad Penny was a first-round pick in 2018 but in the last three seasons, he has played in 10 or fewer games each year. He seemed finally healthy at the end of 2021 and looked fantastic. But expecting Penny to ever stay healthy for an entire season seems madness because there is never of history of him doing so.

Maybe this hernia issue for Walker is just a one-off problem for him and he will mostly stay healthy for many seasons to come. But in trying to parse the words of Carroll, never a really easy thing to do, there might be a bit more concern with the hernia problem.

Carroll said when speaking about Walker’s hernia, “…I don’t know what to tell you yet but it’s something we can attend to and all that…” And “we’ve just got to make sure that he’s OK by the opener…” We’ve heard these kinds of things before from Carroll and then a player has to miss six games because of an injury.

On a positive note, at least DeeJay Dallas has looked excellent in training camp and did in the preseason game 1. If Penny starts and gets hurt and Walker is unavailable then at least Dallas appears capable of having solid production with a decent amount of carries.

Still, Walker was taken in the second round of the 2022 NFL draft to eventually be a lead back for the Seahawks. Let’s just hope his career doesn’t go the same as Carson’s and Penny’s but it’s OK for 12s to be a bit nervous due to Walker already having an injury.