Zach Charbonnet looks like Seahawks' new lead rusher over Kenneth Walker III

There appears to be a changing of the guard at running back for the Seattle Seahawks in their first game of the 2025 season.

Aug 15, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet (26) rushes for a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first quarter at Lumen Field. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

We are barely one quarter into the new season for the Seattle Seahawks and we've already seen a major change in how they do business on offense. During the offseason beat reporters were rumbling about a potential change in the backfield, with Zach Charbonnet potentially replacing Kenneth Walker III as their lead rusher.

Obviously, head coach Mike Macdonald was in no hurry to disclose whether or not that was true - and on the team's unofficial depth charts Walker was still No. 1 at running back. However, now that the games have begun it certainly appears that Charbonnet is now their guy at this position.

Seattle is tied 7-7 with the San Francisco 49ers early in the second quarter, and Charbonnet has been not only their lead running back but the focal point of the offense in general.

So far Walker has only seen two carries, totaling eight yards. Meanwhile, Charbonnet has seen seven, including multiple carries at the goal line - one of which he punched in for the Seahawks' first points of the season.

Zach Charbonnet in for SIX

SFvsSEA on FOXhttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/ig5ueSIUlQ
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025

It's still early in the year, and this could just be the plan for this one game. However, it does make some sense that the Seahawks prefer Charbonnet's superior size, power, pass protection and one-cut-and-go style as opposed to Walker's athletic jazz show.

We'll have to wait and see if this arrangement continues throughout the rest of the game and into next week's matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, for now it's pretty clear that Charbonnet is the new RB1 for this team.

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