George Holani

JULY 6: The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf writes Price will, in fact, be “tasked with taking over a starring role” on Seattle’s offense moving forward. It remains to be seen if that will include the No. 1 gig right away, but there is of course plenty of time for things to change based on how training camp and the preseason play out.

JULY 3: As we usually see with Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks experienced a good amount of turnover on their staff and roster after reaching the pinnacle of the sport. A number of changes threaten to affect the team’s running game, and one such change has yet to be decided as Seattle works to determine which running back will open the season on the first-team offense.

Last year’s RB1, Kenneth Walker, took a big payday to head to Kansas City in free agency. Walker claims that he knew partway into the regular season that he would probably be leaving that way. That could speak to the preparedness with which the team has approached the planning for the future of the position. Over the past two years, it has become clear that, should the team choose to move on from or not be able to retain Walker, the Seahawks had plenty of faith in backup Zach Charbonnet.

Charbonnet is surely still in the team’s plans for the future, but a torn ACL suffered in the second round of the playoffs has muddied the team’s depth chart to start the season. About two and a half weeks ago, head coach Mike Macdonald refused to close the door on the potential for Charbonnet to return in time to open the season. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that Charbonnet is progressing well in his recovery, but it still seems fairly likely that he will start the year on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.

So, if both RB1 and RB2 from the team’s Super Bowl campaign are unavailable to start the season, the Seahawks have a few decent options they can turn to. The first option most would expect them to look at is Jadarian Price, the team’s most recent addition after he was taken out of Notre Dame in the first round of this year’s draft. Price didn’t start in his three years playing for the Fighting Irish, but the player who started over him, Jeremiyah Love, was the only running back drafted higher than he was in the draft this year.

According to Brady Henderson of ESPN, Price is not the player working most often with the first-team offense in Seattle. That honor would go to George Holani, who took over RB2 duties when Charbonnet was injured last year. Signing with the Seahawks as an undrafted back out of Boise State two years ago, Holani hasn’t seen a ton of in-game action, but the team considered him reliable enough to turn to him for snaps in their two biggest games of the season over former seventh-round pick Kenny McIntosh.

Per Henderson, Holani is “looking to build off his strong finish” last year and has been getting the first opportunities on the first-team offense more often than not, over Price and free agent addition Emanuel Wilson. Price could certainly find his sea legs and prove to the staff that he is ready to hand starting responsibilities, but it appears to be Holani’s job for the taking at this point in the offseason. With Charbonnet expected to return at some point in the season, it’s a solution to a short-term problem, but it appears Holani is the answer for now.

Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet is just five months removed from tearing his ACL in a January playoff win over the 49ers, but he is not a lock to miss time in 2026. Head coach Mike Macdonald isn’t closing the door on Charbonnet suiting up in Week 1 (via Mike Florio of PFT).

“Everything’s possible, yeah,” Macdonald said when asked if Charbonnet could be ready for the start of the season.

The Seahawks will open 2026 with a Super Bowl LX rematch against the Patriots on Sept. 9, just under eight months after Charbonnet’s injury. It would be an ideal outcome for Charbonnet to be ready by then, though it seems improbable for someone who didn’t undergo surgery until Feb. 20.

It may be more realistic to expect Charbonnet to return sometime in October or November, according to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. If that is the case, Charbonnet could begin the year on the reserve/PUP list, which would require at least a four-game absence.

Charbonnet, whom the Seahawks chose in the second round in the 2023 draft, spent his first three seasons splitting snaps with Kenneth Walker. While Walker got more touches during that span, Charbonnet still piled up 427 carries and 95 catches. He set career highs in rushing attempts (184), yards (730) and touchdowns (12) over 16 regular-season games last year, though his injury limited him to five carries and 20 yards in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Walker capped off the Seahawks’ run to a championship with a Super Bowl-MVP winning performance in a 29-13 victory over the Pats. A month later, he left Seattle to sign a three-year, $43.05MM deal with Kansas City in free agency.

With Charbonnet recovering from a major injury and Walker out of the picture, the Seahawks spent their first-round pick (No. 32) on former Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price. He and Charbonnet could be the Seahawks’ one-two punch whenever the latter returns. In the meantime, George Holani and Price were “basically 1 and 1A” during mandatory minicamp this week, Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune relays. Free agent addition Emanuel Wilson was third in the pecking order.

Kenny McIntosh is also in the fold, but he is still on the mend from the ACL tear he suffered last July. Macdonald indicated McIntosh could begin training camp on the active/PUP list, per Bell.