3 Seattle Seahawks that should be held out of playing in the preseason

Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III

Do we call him Ken or Kenneth, what does it matter? The guy is RB1 and will likely stay that way until he can't play due to injury. And that is exactly why Walker shouldn't play during the preseason. Why risk him to being injured? After playing a season already, he knows what his blocking assignments are and he knows what the play-calls are.

Running back is an odd position anyway in the preseason. Walker doesn't need to read defenses. He only needs to do that after he makes one of his terrific cuts after popping through the offensive line and see what his would-be tackler is going to try to do to stop him. Walker is a constant home run threat instead of a guy who is going to move the pile for three years. He can do that, but that's not his specialty.

Before I go on, though, there seems to be a slight criticism about how Walker isn't capable of picking up a needed three yards for a first down consistently. Maybe some saw this theory as the reason Seattle chose Zach Charbonnet in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft. To this I would ask: Did you watch Ken Walker play in the final three games of the regular season of 2022? He not only could pick up three needed yards, but often burst outside for nine more.

Walker, though, has been nicked up several times in his short career, so he is a little injury prone. He even missed some time in training camp. But my hope is that Seattle kept him out simply because he didn't need the reps as much as Charbonnet and fellow rookie Kenny McIntosh. Walker is RB1 and is a good player who will probably score 13 touchdowns this year rushing, but only if Seattle keeps him out of the preseason.

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