The Seattle Seahawks begin their quest for a second straight title against a familiar opponent. We know they have answers for the Patriots, but a very large question looms over their own team.
Who can carry the rock in Seattle? The defending Super Bowl Champs let the title game MVP walk away to a bigger contract in Kansas City. That wouldn’t raise so many questions if their 1B running back, Zach Charbonnet, wasn't on the bench for at least the first four games of the season, although the 12s got some really encouraging news on that front lately.
That leaves a largely untested trio of backs to pick up all of the slack for the Seahawks. While Seattle has a new offensive coordinator, Brian Fleury, the 12s can expect their team to maintain a strong running attack. Or at least to attempt it. And that brings us to the big question: do the Seahawks have the right players to get the job done?
Seattle Seahawks have no proven solutions but a lot of potential in the backfield
First, let’s look at the returning backs. That amounts to just one player. With Charbonett on the PUP list, Kenny McIntosh released due to a season-ending injury in camp, and Ken Walker III with the Chiefs, only George Holani returns to action in Week One from the championship team.
Holani had just four touches as a rookie in 2025, but saw a bump in production last year. Percentage-wise, it was a nice jump, from three carries to 22, along with two catches. But as a load-bearer for Seattle, Holani has yet to prove himself. He did score once and amassed six first downs last season.
That’s solid production; extrapolated to 240 touches, that would give Holani 60 first downs and 10 scores.
In case you’re wondering (and I know you are), K9 had 252 touches and accumulated 58 first downs and five TDs. But there’s a world of difference between spot duty and being at least the number two guy, if not the lead back. The good news is that Holani looked great in camp, so that may ease some concerns.
On to the first new arrival, Emanuel Wilson. The former Packer will be in his fourth season in the league and was Green Bay’s primary backup to Josh Jacobs - no shame there. At 5-10” and 226 pounds, you’d expect him to be a power back.
But much like Charbonnet, he has deceptive speed. No one is ever going to mistake Wilson for Walker, but with 998 yards on 228 carries over the past two seasons, he’s clearly been effective. The thing is, he sure as heck isn’t as fast as the next guy.
That next guy is perhaps the Seahawks’ prize rookie of the 2026 draft, Jadarian Price. Yes, it’s kinda weird that he didn’t even start at Notre Dame. But I’ll remind you that Barry Sanders didn’t start at Oklahoma until Thurman Thomas graduated, and he turned out to be pretty decent.
Price doesn’t flash the 40 times K9 did, but in games, he’s proven to be a true speed artist. Heck, even Mike Vrabel knows it. He’s been held out of the preseason games, as Seattle knows just how thin they are at the position. But in camp, he’s shown to be everything John Schneider and Mike Macdonald expected when they stayed put and took him with the final pick of the first round.
But college isn’t the NFL, and camp isn’t the regular season. The Seahawks expect Price to be their bellcow, and I believe he’s more than up to the job. But there’s still a world of difference between the backfield Seattle began the 2025 season with and this group. Add that there’s no Zach Ouzts, and the running back room in the Emerald City remains the biggest question mark for the defending champs.
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