Over the offseason, the Seattle Seahawks re-tooled their offense to cater to the strengths of new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Through the first two weeks of 2025, both Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet have posted quality outings, but the split backfield does create some headaches for fantasy football managers. With a date against the New Orleans Saints on deck, which running back deserves a spot in starting lineups in Week 3?
Start Kenneth Walker or Zach Charbonnet?
The Seahawks find themselves in a unique situation with a pair of talented halfbacks, but the conundrum of deciding a starter is really a good problem to have. Each of these players have put plenty of great tape on display during their time in the NFL, with Walker acting as the lead back over the last two seasons with both on the roster. His spot as the incumbent being secure made sense because after all, Walker ran for over 1,000 yards with nine rushing touchdowns as a rookie in 2022. However, that didn’t prevent the franchise from selecting Charbonnet in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
The production Walker boasts when healthy is undeniably difficult to deny. His aforementioned rookie season served as a breakout, and he ran for 905 yards with an additional 259 receiving yards and nine total touchdowns in 2023. However, a concerning trend began to show as he played just 15 games in those first two campaigns, then suited up for just 11 contests last year. Despite inefficient work on the ground with just 3.7 yards per carry, Walker averaged a career-best 16.5 FPPG in PPR formats with 872 scrimmage yards and eight total scores. He also displayed soft hands with a career-high 46 receptions despite missing six games.
When Walker misses time, Charbonnet nearly always rises to the occasion. In eight games as the starter without Walker active, the UCLA product has racked up 540 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 124 carries, also catching 24-of-29 targets for 219 receiving yards. That averages out to over 17.7 FPPG, and the actual results show that Charbonnet can indeed carry the load as a fantasy RB1 with a full workload. The coaching staff raved about the halfback this offseason while Walker dealt with an injury in training camp, and talk of a backfield takeover may have been warranted. What do the early numbers show, though?
The verdict
Through the first two weeks, it appears Charbonnet really did secure the RB1 role in this Seahawks offense. In Week 1, he handled a 58% snap share with 12 carries on which he gained an unimpressive 47 yards, but he did handle all three goal-line attempts and scored a touchdown. Meanwhile Walker saw 40% of snaps and 10 rush attempts, taking those carries just 20 yards. What the latter did see were three targets in the receiving game, which he only gained four yards on. Still, Charbonnet didn’t see a single target despite playing far more snaps in the two-minute drill. The final stat lines saw 10.7 PPR points for Charbonnet and just 5.4 fantasy points for Walker.
Week 2 once again saw Charbonnet out-snap Walker to 55% to 35%, but this time the latter posted a big performance. Walker finished with 13 carries, two fewer than his counterpart, but ran for 105 yards and a long touchdown. He also saw just one target for 13 yards while Charbonnet didn’t see a look in the passing game. Walker’s day ended with 18.8 fantasy points compared to just 1.0 for Charbonnet, who took 15 carries but gained only 10 yards.
This does feel like a bit of a backfield roulette situation for fantasy football managers. Both running backs possess plenty of talent, and Walker may actually be the better of the two as one of the best tackle-breakers in the game. Despite facing eight or more men in the box 43.48% of the time this season, the NFL’s highest rate, he still ranks fourth in yards per carry (5.43) and second in explosive rush rate (13%) while being stuffed at the lowest rate of any qualifying halfback (34.8%). We saw this past week how he can still post respectable fantasy numbers even with lower snap share, and while these performances won’t come every week, the talent can often win out in these situations.
That’s not to say Charbonnet is bad, though — as mentioned earlier, he put plenty of positives on tape over the last couple of years. As long as he still sees the majority of snaps and goal-line work, the 24-year-old still belongs in fantasy football lineups as well. Managers who have one or the other can pencil their player in as a weekly FLEX option with upside, but those who roster both may find themselves in a pickle. In that case, starting Walker might end up the better move since he sees work in the passing game to boost his fantasy floor, unlike his counterpart.
