Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III has more than one encouraging trend going

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All season long the Seattle Seahawks have had an unsettled arrangement going at running back. At the very start of the year, it appeared that Zach Charbonnet had supplanted Kenneth Walker III as the team's RB1, but that turned out not to be the case.
As has been the case the last three seasons, Walker has been more explosive and efficient than Charbonnet - while Charbonnet has been more consistent and better in pass protection.
More recently, there were rumblings that Walker would be taking over in a more dominant starter type if role rather than the 60/40 split the Seahawks have gone with most of the year. That wasn't the case last week, though - as Walker and Charbonnet had a roughly-equal numberof carries (13 to 14).
However, there are other trends going that favor Walker's usage in Klint Kubiak's offense. Here are a couple that ESPN noted going into Seattle's Week 14 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.
"Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III played in over 50% of the Seahawks' offensive snaps for two straight weeks. He has logged at least 14 touches in back-to-back games, and his receiving involvement and increased goal-line usage are encouraging. The Falcons' defense has allowed the ninth-most fantasy points per game to RBs."
Going forward, it's difficult to project how the carries and the snaps are going to be split up between these two for the rest of the season - even though Walker does have these trends working in his favor.
What happens at the end of the season is also a mystery. Walker is set to become a free agent - and according to Pro Football Focus he's going to be the very best one available if he hits the market.
Walker is a sensational talent who hasn't quite been able to reach his full potential - and one shudders to think what kind of numbers he could put up running behind an offensive line like Detroit's or Philadelphia's.
That's exactly the scenario that the Seahawks should be looking to avoid. They do have a lot of priority free agents to re-sign, but if there's any room at all for Walker to stick around they need to find a way to make the math work.

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Tim Weaver has been writing about the NFL since the 2013 season for multiple teams and outlets, including USA Today and The Sporting News. He currently covers the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers for On SI.