A Modest Proposal: Seahawks, Raiders Can Help One Another With Blockbuster Trade
The Seahawks have struggled to run the football in 2026, in part due to backfield injuries. Could dealing one of their top free agent re-signings from March to acquire a former top-10 pick make sense for both teams?
With six weeks of the season already in the books and the NFL trade deadline approaching quickly, coming off back-to-back losses, the Seattle Seahawks could use a few reinforcements as they try to make up ground in the NFC West as well as conference standings.
Sitting at 3-3, the Seahawks have struggled mightily with turnovers, starting with quarterback Sam Darnold uncorking seven interceptions in the past four games, including two of them in the fourth quarter and overtime in a loss to the Broncos on Thursday night.
But for as poorly as Darnold has played, he's been far from the only culprit behind Seattle's horrendous turnover woes. Since Week 2, running backs and receivers have fumbled six times on run plays, losing four of those. This included two killer fumbles by Emanuel Wilson and George Holani that San Francisco turned into 14 points at Lumen Field in Week 5, leading to a 32-29 defeat.
The Seahawks have been ravaged by injuries in the backfield, starting with the expected absence of Zach Charbonnet, who has missed the first six games recovering from a torn ACL. First round pick Jadarian Price has only played in three games as well and has to miss at least one more on injured reserve with a chest injury, which has left the team without much explosiveness or efficiency in the run game.
Through six games, Seattle has only two runs of 20-plus yards - with one of those coming from receiver Rashid Shaheed - and per NFL Next Gen Stats, they rank dead last in total Expected Points Added (EPA) on run plays (-39.3). A telltale sign that points to lack of juice in the backfield, they rank 28th in Rushing Yards Over Expected (-66) despite sitting 17th in light boxes faced.
Now in the final week of his 21-day practice window, Charbonnet must be activated from the PUP list by next Thursday and looks to be close to making his season debut. As for Price, coach Mike Macdonald told Brock Huard and Mike Salk on Seattle Sports 710 on Friday that the dynamic rookie should be back "sooner rather than later" once he's eligible to come off injured reserve, so reinforcements are coming that should make the team's run game more formidable.
With that said, Charbonnet will be a free agent in March and it may take several weeks to get him back to his pre-injury form, while Price has much to prove after losing two fumbles in three games. After letting Offensive Player of the Year favorite Ken Walker III leave in free agency, it can be easily argued that general manager John Schneider should be scanning the trade market for an upgrade.
There are certainly some big name possibilities who could be available before November 2, including Saquon Barkley of the Eagles and Jonathan Taylor of the Colts. But while those names would be worth calling about, Schneider's best roll of the dice may be to give a call to a team with an old friend in Klint Kubiak now on the sidelines as the head coach.
