Seahawks rookie Ken Walker to undergo unknown procedure

Update: Walker supposedly did have surgery to repair a hernia, but not a sports hernia, per Ian Rapoport. This is still an interesting situation to monitor as it now sounds like Walker will not play the rest of the preseason and is expected back in Week 1 of the regular season if things go well.

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday that rookie running back Ken Walker is undergoing a procedure. Neither Carroll nor the team expanded on what type of procedure it was other than saying it wasn’t a sports hernia. On Tuesday, Walker was reportedly held out of practice due to a “hernia” issue.

This is an interesting scenario because we don’t exactly know what is going on with Walker. He doesn’t practice on Tuesday because of a hernia issue and then apparently has a separate procedure unrelated to the sports hernia. There doesn’t seem to be much concern in the Seattle organization about the issue, but it feels strange that they are being so cryptic about what he is going through.

Walker is a rookie out of Michigan State that the Seahawks drafted in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He joined a crowded backfield this offseason but saw it thin out as Chris Carson retired unexpectedly. He always seemed to be dealing with one injury, so he retired to be safe. This left Rashaad Penny as the incumbent running back and gave Walker an easier path to the starting spot. If Walker can have a good preseason performance, he could go into the regular season in a split backfield or potentially overtaking Penny. This “issue”, though, could put a damper on that.