Seahawks Must Balance Long Game With Immediate Need as Zach Charbonnet Nears Return
RENTON, Wash. - After rushing for just 44 yards in a road loss to the Washington Commanders last weekend, much-needed help may be on the way in the near future for the Seattle Seahawks as the team weighs when to designate Zach Charbonnet to return to practice.
On Monday, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald remained non-committal on whether or not Charbonnet would practice this week, which would open his 21-day window to be activated to the 53-man roster. The fourth-year back has made quite the rapid recovery from a torn ACL suffered in a Divisional Round win over the 49ers in January and reconstructive knee surgery in late February.
“We’re still working through that process,” Macdonald said. “I’m sure we’ll have an answer by sometime tomorrow, whether or not he’ll start practicing this week. It’s not out of the question yet, we just haven’t had an update.”
During Seattle’s off day on Tuesday, the team didn’t announce anything on the Charbonnet front, leaving his status in question. But that doesn’t mean a decision wasn’t made behind the scenes, and before Wednesday’s practice, Macdonald again indicated a decision had not been made and that the veteran back could potentially practice on Thursday.
Considering how much Seattle has struggled running the football in two of the first three games, particularly in short yardage and goal line situations, bringing back Charbonnet as soon as possible would be the perfect ingredient to throw into the pot and spice up a rushing attack that currently doesn’t have enough bite to it. But the team also can’t afford to rush him back too quickly either, making the decision on when to get him back on the practice field a multi-layered one.
Between the lines, there’s no question the Seahawks could use Charbonnet’s punishing, relentless running style back in the lineup. In Sunday’s game, the trio of Jadarian Price, George Holani, and Emanuel Wilson combined to force four missed tackles on 17 carries and averaged 2.61 yards per carry after contact, ranking 19th in the league for Week 3 in that category. For the season, the group has averaged 2.8 yards per carry after contact, a number inflated to an extent by a strong outing in Arizona in Week 2.
Without Charbonnet available, Seattle has been especially putrid executing and finishing on short yardage and red zone runs. According to TruMedia, on plays with three yards or less to gain to the sticks, the team has only picked up six first downs on 16 carries and has yet to move the chains on a third down rushing attempt, ranking dead last with a 37.5% first down conversion rate on those rush attempts.
As for the red zone, the Seahawks have been as inefficient and ineffective as any team in the league rushing the football inside the opposing 20-yard line. Despite having the third-most carries (21), they rank 24th in yards per carry (2.2), 28th in first down rate (4.8%), 26th in success rate (25%), 27th in Expected Points Added (-5.0), and have scored just a single touchdown, which happened to come from tight end AJ Barner on a “Barn Yard” sneak play, not one of their running backs.
Illustrating how much Charbonnet’s return could dramatically improve those numbers across the board, the former second round pick out of UCLA rushed for 129 yards and produced first downs on 61% of his carries when the Seahawks needed to pick up three yards or less last season. He also was one of the best red zone runners in the entire NFL, finishing fourth in the league with 11 rushing touchdowns inside the 20 and producing a touchdown on every 4.55 red zone carries, which also ranked in the top 10.
Stunningly, Charbonnet managed to achieve that feat despite being 40th out of 50 qualified backs averaging just 0.06 yards per carry before contact. Only 49ers star Christian McCaffery and Bills quarterback Josh Allen posted lower yards per carry before contract averages and scored 10-plus rushing touchdowns, putting him in special company for turning poor blocking into end zone visits.
But while all of those numbers clearly point to Charbonnet being a solution to Seattle’s short yardage dilemma, he didn’t undergo surgery until more than a month after injuring his knee, further delaying the start of his rehab. If he returns to practice on Thursday, he will be back on a football field barely over seven months after going under the knife, which would be a far earlier timeline than the traditional nine-to-12 months for a full recovery.
Such a speedy return wouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibility, as former Seahawks and current Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks previously returned to practice 7.5 months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL in 2023. Long-time Vikings star Adrian Peterson’s miraculous recovery in 2012 spanned eight months, offering the closest comparison timeline wise for another running back.
However, for every Brooks or Peterson, there are far more players who need additional time before being truly ready to resume practicing and playing in games. Coming back too fast can present higher risk of graft failure or subsequent knee injuries as well, making it critical that the Seahawks don’t kick off Charbonnet’s window unless they are 100% certain that he’s physically ready for that next big step less than eight months following his procedure.
When asked what goes into the decision to designate Charbonnet to return to practice or not, Macdonald pointed to a number of different variables, including maximizing on-field ramp up time before activating him to the roster, which would be complicated to an extent by a Week 6 Thursday night game against the Broncos in Denver. Right now, the Seahawks are just trying to figure out what the best path forward is for the player and the team while considering his progress first and foremost along with those other factors.
“I wouldn’t make it as cut and dry that it’s just on him,” Macdonald explained. “It’s a matter of how many practices he needs, roster spots, things like that. But he’s doing a great job and I think he’s in a great position mentally. What’s the best time and when and how does that create the most opportunities to get them ready to play? We got the Denver week. How does that affect that? Some other things going on that we just have to work through, but we’ll decide by tomorrow. He’ll either practice tomorrow or he won’t.”
Regardless of whether or not Charbonnet practices on Thursday or not, he won’t be eligible to play in a game until Week 5, when the Seahawks host the NFC West-leading 49ers at Lumen Field. The odds of him suiting up for that game are next to none, if not impossible, as the team will surely want at least two weeks of practice time for the player before figuring out when he will be added to the 53. It’s also unlikely that they would want to bring him back for a mid-week game in Denver either.
Most likely, even if Charbonnet does return this week in some capacity off the PUP list, Seattle won’t have him in the lineup until Week 7 against Kansas City. Waiting until next week at the earliest to designate him to practice could push that timetable back to Week 8 when Chicago comes to town on Monday Night Football.
Keeping all those possibilities in mind, the Seahawks truly have a balancing act to carry out right now with Charbonnet. Activating him this week would mean that his 21-day window would end on October 22, a few days before the Chiefs matchup. In other words, if he’s out there on Thursday, that speaks volumes about how quickly the team anticipates he will be ready for game action and would be in line to miss just six games despite how late his injury occurred.
But on the flip side, the Seahawks will have to make sure they’re right in their decision and don’t launch his practice window too early, as doing so could mean him occupying a roster spot without playing if he needs more than the 21 days or in a worst case scenario, a re-injury that would put his season in jeopardy. No matter what the immediate need looks like for his services, all hands will have to be on deck from the medical team to the coaching staff to ensure they are protecting the player from himself and bring him back when he’s truly ready.
