The Seattle Seahawks had $36 million reasons to let Kenneth Walker III leave for the Kansas City Chiefs. The reigning Super Bowl MVP got a big payday, and they felt like they didn't have to overpay for help at the position.
While that cost-savvy decision might be wise on paper, it may come back to haunt them next season. They don't have a true replacement for Walker, and with the way the market has shaped up, they may not be able to get him.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider said they can find guys at running back, and head coach Mike Macdonald echoed that sentiment, gushing about the people in the building. They also signed Emanuel Wilson, presumably to be the starter in Zach Charbonnet's absence. None of that will matter if they can't establish the run next season.
The Seattle Seahawks will regret not addressing the RB situation
Wilson is an efficient running back who averaged 4.5 yards per carry in Green Bay, but he's never been a workhorse. Even if he were, he doesn't provide the same profile of running back the Seahawks lost when they let Walker leave, and neither does George Holani nor Kenny McIntosh.
Walker was a speedster, a home-run-hitting, three-down back who made the most of the tiniest of gaps to explode for big gains. The Seahawks have a solid pass-blocker, pass catcher, and goal-line specialist in Zach Charbonnet, but they now lack a complementary back who can help them keep that dominant one-two punch out of the backfield.
The Seahawks will probably take a running back in the NFL Draft, but again, it's not a matter of adding more bodies just for the sake of it. This year's running back prospect has a well-defined prototype, and it's rather similar to what the Seahawks already have in-house.
They won't come even close to Jeremiyah Love, and most of the guys who come after him are unlikely to bring anything different to the table.
This team could've gone after a suitable replacement earlier in the offseason. Granted, they didn't want to spend a lot of money, thinking about Jaxon Smith-Njigba's contract extension and the compensatory pick formula, but this approach was just way too risky.
Klint Kubiak will no longer call the shots on offense, and the Seahawks will probably rely more on Sam Darnold and the passing game if they continue to struggle with subpar play in the interior of the offensive line.
Even so, they averaged 123.3 rushing yards per game, tied for tenth-most in the league, so not having a true three-down back out there can take a big toll on one of the most explosive offenses in football.
That said, there's no easy way to replace a running back who turned 221 carries into 1,027 yards and five rushing touchdowns and hauled in 31 receptions on 36 targets for an additional 282 yards. And after what he did for them in the playoff run, it's hard to believe the Seahawks couldn't have found a way to keep him around for a little longer if they wanted.