In the third year of a battle for touches in the Seattle Seahawks backfield, it seems as if one player has taken a decisive edge. Kenneth Walker III has taken 39 carries this season and thrived, turning them into 163 yards and three touchdowns, while Zach Charbonnet has only gotten 27 carries for 57 yards and a score, though he missed Seattle’s Week 3 win over the New Orleans Saints with a foot injury. Walker’s strong Week 3 performance (16 carries, 38 yards, and two scores) should give him an upper hand.
Still, is Charbonnet worth a start in fantasy for Thursday’s 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday Night Football clash against the Arizona Cardinals? He led the team in rushing yards and touchdowns last season, and though he’s had a rough start to 2025, it seems like only a matter of time before he breaks out. It seems impossible that the longest of his 27 rushes has gone for a measly seven yards. He has proven explosive play capability in the past, breaking off for three 20-plus-yard runs last season, including a 51-yarder.
In Week 1, Charbonnet garnered 12 carries to Walker’s 10, and in Week 2, he earned 15 carries to Walker’s 12. He also saw the field on a greater proportion of snaps than Walker did. The 24-year-old didn’t make much of them — his 2.1 yards per carry average ranks second-to-last among 45 qualified running backs this season — but Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald expressed confidence in him after the game.
Given his 48.1% success rate across the last two seasons, he’s due for some improvement, but Walker’s strong performances look legitimate. Charbonnet ranks dead last in the NFL in rush yards over expectation per attempt, while Walker has been about average. Pro Football Focus is kinder to Walker, ranking him as the league’s second-best qualified running back, while Charbonnet ranks 43rd.
Arizona has largely stifled the run this season, allowing the fourth-fewest rushing yards on the 10th-worst efficiency despite facing some pretty talented running backs in the New Orleans Saints’ Alvin Kamara, the Carolina Panthers’ Chuba Hubbard, and the San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey. They’ve been a bit more gettable through the air, allowing the fifth-most receiving yards to running backs in addition to a pair of scores, but Sam Darnold hasn’t yet targeted Charbonnet this season. The fact that Macdonald operates the league’s third-most run-friendly offense could make both backs fantasy-viable, but I simply trust Walker more.
Start or Sit: Sit Zach Charbonnet.
