Can you hear it? Drifting in from the coast and swirling about the aisles of Lumen Field. “Char-Bon-Net, Char-Bon-Net.” It seems that to everyone not named Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald (and me – as you will soon see), Zach Charbonnet has become Seattle’s de facto RB1.
Charbonnet has proven himself as a quality NFL running back. He is a complete player, able to run, catch, and block. He [outperformed last year’s starter](https://12thmanrising.com/seattle-seahawks-needed-preseason-run-excuses-kenneth-walker), Kenneth Walker III, when pressed into a bigger role late in the season. I can’t think of a single team that wouldn’t [want to have Zach Charbonnet](https://12thmanrising.com/took-underused-seattle-seahawks-veteran-one-preseason-drive-steal-starting-spot) on its roster.
But here’s the thing. He’s not Kenneth Walker. You can ride Charbonnet into the playoffs. You can ride Walker to the Super Bowl. Provided he stays healthy and performs near 100 percent. As every Seahawks fan knows, that’s the problem with Kenneth Walker.
What does Kenneth Walker III have to do to secure his starting spot in the Seahawks’ backfield?
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In his first two seasons with Seattle, Walker piled up more than 2,300 all-purpose yards from scrimmage and 18 touchdowns. I don’t mean to suggest those are Hall of Fame numbers. Saquon Barkley basically equaled that two-year total in 2024.
But when healthy, Kenneth Walker is a more explosive back than Zach Charbonnet, and that threat benefits the entire offense. It may only be a half-step’s worth of difference, but that half step keeps the defense on its toes. They can’t attack quite as aggressively with Walker in the game. Speed does that to a defense.
But Walker missed a lot of 2024 with varied injuries. A pulled abdomen early, a calf strain late. A bad ankle sprain ended his season in Week 16. Now, he is dealing with a foot problem that has limited him throughout training camp.
Walker is going to get back on the field at some point. When he does, let me suggest using one stat as a cheat code for whether this is the same player we saw in 2022, or a diminished version. Because it’s easy to say Zach Charbonnet should be playing more when Walker is out. When he returns to the lineup, it becomes trickier.
Look at Walker's yards before contact on running plays. Of all his metrics, that’s the one that fell off most precipitously in 2024. In his first two seasons, K9 hovered just at the league average at 2.7 yards before contact. On a team with a questionable offensive line, that is a very solid number. Last year, he plummeted a full yard to 1.7. He fell from 16th in the league to 42nd.
Seattle’s run offense in general was very poor in 2024. The line wasn’t good. The scheme wasn’t good. As good as we have, Charbonnet also regressed from 2.3 yards in 2023 to 2.0 last year.
But Walker and Charbonnet ran behind the same line and played in the same scheme over the past two years, and there’s getting around the fact that Walker was more the a quarter-yard better than his backup in ’23, and more than a quarter-yard worse in ’24.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, yards-before-contact is not entirely predicated on line play. A runner’s vision – to see the hole – and leg burst – to hit that hole quickly – can be equally important.
That’s why Walker’s drastic fall off in 2024 is so concerning. If he can no longer attack the line like he did as a rookie, his big-play potential goes away. And that big-play potential is why you would rather have Walker as your starter.
It isn’t surprising that Charbonnet has outpaces Walker in yards-_after_**\-**contact. He carries a bit more mass and leans forward at the end of runs. Both backs actually saw their yards-after-contact go up in 2024, in part because they were both getting hit earlier.
Walker needs that seam, that extra half-second to allow for his raw speed to make game-changing plays. Of course, every back needs that. Charbonnet needs it too. But with Charbonnet, you have a better idea of what he will do. With Walker, there is a higher ceiling and a lower floor.
Seattle’s offense will be at its best with Kenneth Walker playing near that ceiling. If he cannot, then they are better off giving Charbonnet a bigger share of the offense.
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