Seahawks 2024 Grade Card: How Did Zach Charbonnet, RBs Perform?

As a team, the Seahawks had one of the worst run games in the NFL, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort by the ball carriers themselves.

Dec 8, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet (26) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Seattle Seahawks ultimately missed the playoffs in year one under coach Mike Macdonald, and one of the team's biggest issues over the course of the season revolved around inconsistencies in the run game, which finished the year ranked 29th in the NFL.

How much of those struggles can be attributed to Seattle's stable of running backs? Or does the talented backfield corps deserve credit for the situation not being even worse?

Revisiting the 2024 campaign with statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus, here's a look at what went right, what went wrong, and a final grade for Seahawks running backs:

What Went Right

As a collective group, a strong argument can be made that Seattle's running backs did a better job at making something out of nothing than any other group in the league, creating the bulk of their own yardage without the benefit of quality blocking in front of them. The trio of Ken Walker III, Zach Charbonnet, and Kenny McIntosh all averaged better than three yards per carry after contact and combined to force 103 forced missed tackles on 319 carries between them.

Starting six games in his sophomore season, Charbonnet capitalized on Walker's numerous injuries, rushing for 569 yards and eight touchdowns while proving he's far more than a bruising, downhill runner. Despite having fewer carries than his backfield counterpart, he finished with three more runs of 10 or more yards, rushed for five more first downs, and averaged half a yard more per carry, showcasing underrated explosiveness as a big play threat on the ground.

Seeing his first action on offense after missing most of his rookie year with a knee injury, Kenny McIntosh also showed his mettle by running with a chip on his shoulder and reading his blocks with excellent decisiveness. He led all of Seattle's backs averaging 3.38 yards per carry after contact and 5.5 yards per carry, producing four 10-plus yard runs on just 31 carries with a 23.8 percent breakaway run percentage and a missed forced tackle on one out of every three rushes.

Flashing all-around skill sets, each of Seattle's running backs excelled as pass catchers as well. Walker reeled in 46 out of 52 targets for 299 yards and a touchdown, forcing 13 missed tackles after the catch as a receiver, while Charbonnet caught 42 out of 47 targets with no drops and 11 forced missed tackles out of the backfield. McIntosh didn't receive near as many chances in the passing game, but he caught all three of his targets for 22 yards and a first down.

What Went Wrong

While blocking obviously played a major part in the regression along with multiple injuries, Walker lacked the juice he brought to Seattle's run game in his first two seasons. After posting breakaway run percentages of 43 and 28 percent in 2022 and 2023, that rate plunged to 22.7 percent in 2024 and he saw his number of explosive 10-plus yard runs nearly cut in half from the previous season with only 13 of them on 153 carries, contributing to a career-low 3.7 yards per carry.

Lack of availability continued to be a significant problem for Walker, as he missed six games with three different injuries and played at well below 100 percent in several other games after missing a pair of games in each of his first two NFL seasons. While missing 10 games in three seasons may not seem like much, especially at the high attrition running back position that's nearly 20 percent of the Seahawks regular season games, a substantial chunk of time for the dynamic playmaker to be sidelined for.

With Charbonnet being the lone exception, Seattle's running backs once again performed below average in pass protection and blitz pickup. Walker allowed seven pressures on 44 pass blocking snaps, graded out 111th out of 130 running backs, while McIntosh gave up a pressure on nine attempts and was graded out 86th overall in that category.

Final Grade: B-

This past season wasn't the worst one for running backs in Seattle in recent memory, as the dreadful 2017 campaign where nobody not named Russell Wilson rushed for over 300 yards remains a nightmare for many Seahawk fans. But in terms of production, this marked the first season since that ugly year seven seasons ago where no backs on the roster eclipsed 600 rushing yards, in part due to Walker missing more than a quarter of the schedule with injuries.

Of course, in this instance, the backs themselves shouldn't be blamed for the dismal numbers. Walker ranked in the top 10 in missed tackles forced despite missing six games, while Charbonnet and McIntosh also posted impressive stats creating yardage after contact and making defenders miss to take on the role of being their own blockers. Without their efforts, things could have been substantially worse, even if that is hard to envision for a 29th ranked run game.

Talent wise, the Seahawks have the pieces in the backfield to bounce back magnificently in 2025 wtih improvements along the offensive line and a new offensive coordinator who has more of a desire to scheme a quality run game than Ryan Grubb did. With Walker, Charbonnet, and McIntosh all under contract and George Holani also set to return, there shouldn't be personnel-related questions at the position and the front office simply needs to provide them more support for success.

Previous 2024 Grade Cards: Quarterback

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