Seahawks Fear Kenny McIntosh Lost For Season With ACL Injury
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenny McIntosh warms up before a Week 18 game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. Credit: Kenny McIntosh/Instagram
Viewed as one of the team’s strongest and deepest position groups heading into the 2025 season, the Seattle Seahawks appear to have taken a significant early hit to their talented stable of running backs.
According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, the Seahawks fear Kenny McIntosh suffered a torn ACL during the team’s fourth training camp practice on Saturday. Per multiple reporters who were on site at the VMAC, the third-year back crumpled to the ground during a special teams drill after appearing to collide with a teammate and had to be helped off the field with the inability to put any weight on his left leg.
McIntosh, a 2023 seventh-round pick out of Georgia, had been expected to vie for Seattle’s third running back role against incoming rookie Damien Martinez and second-year runner George Holani. After a separate sprained knee injury limited him to dressing for just three games as a rookie, he impressed in the second half last season, taking advantage of extra reps created by an injury to starter Ken Walker III and slashed his way to 172 rushing yards on 31 carries for a healthy 5.5 yards per carry average.
In addition to his stellar running production, McIntosh caught three passes for 22 yards and also pitched in as a kick returner, contributing six returns for 153 yards and a 25.5 yards per return average on special teams. Aside from battling for snaps out of the backfield in new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s system, he was viewed as one of the prime candidates to return kicks going up against rookie receiver Tory Horton and veteran wideout Steven Sims Jr. among others.
If McIntosh’s season indeed has come to an end before it even started, his absence will become the latest significant injury to impact a Seahawks backfield that has more than its share of them in the past several seasons. Walker missed six games last year due to various ailments, while former starter Rashaad Penny’s career came to an early end due to a litany of serious injuries, including a broken leg suffered early in the 2022 season. Prior to that, long-time starter Chris Carson’s career also was ended by a neck injury.
With McIntosh likely sidelined for the remainder of the 2025 season, a golden opportunity will be presented for the hard-running Martinez, who rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of his final two collegiate seasons at Oregon State and Miami while averaging six yards per carry in his college career. His bruising running style and underrated vision out of the backfield should serve him well in the ground game, but he has dropped a couple of passes in training camp and will have to prove he can be a more reliable receiver along with stepping up on special teams, an area he didn’t play much in college.
After flashing in camp last year coming out of Boise State undrafted, Holani shouldn’t be counted out either. A powerful runner in his own right, he caught 88 passes for the Broncos in parts of five college seasons and he stood out as a quality pass protector on blitz pickups last summer. Combining those attributes with special teams capabilities, it can be argued he may be the better all-around player right now to fill one of the final roster spots, though a spot may be there for both him and Martinez in an offense that will prioritize running the football.
Filling out the depth chart, undrafted rookie Jacardia Wright out of Missouri State now should get more snaps on the practice field, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Seahawks decide to fill their open spot on the 90-man roster with McIntosh’s injured reserve placement by signing another back for the preseason.
