Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III to miss rest of regular season with injury

Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times on Dec 26, 2024

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — Seahawks starting running back Kenneth Walker III will miss the final two games of the regular season after the team announced Thursday it has placed him on injured reserve.

The team made the announcement hours before its game Thursday night against the Bears in Chicago. Putting Walker on IR opened up a spot on the 53-man roster for rookie George Holani, who will become the third running back behind Zach Charbonnet and Kenny McIntosh.

The news ends a disappointing third NFL season for Walker, who battled three different injuries and after averaging 977.5 yards per season his first two years in the NFL will end up rushing for just 573 yards in 11 games while averaging a career-low 3.7 yards per carry.

The Seahawks also announced cornerback Artie Burns has been elevated off the practice squad to play against the Bears.

Walker suffered an ankle injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 27-23 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Players who go on IR have to miss four games before they can return.

That means Walker could return if Seattle were to get to the playoffs and then win two games to advance to the NFC championship.

It guarantees he will miss a game next weekend against the Rams in Los Angeles that could have playoff implications. That game will be either Saturday or Sunday with the date and time set following the games of this weekend.

The Seahawks on Wednesday declared Walker out for Thursday’s game against the Bears with the injury Walker suffered on a run on a first-and-goal at the 3 with 5:52 remaining against the Vikings.

But coach Mike Macdonald had been vague about Walker’s status beyond that saying only “he’s gonna be out this game’’ when asked if the team had learned anything about a timeline for his return.

Walker, who was the 41st overall pick of the 2022 draft out of Michigan State, had 1,050 yards in 15 games as a rookie in 2022, averaging 4.6 per attempt.

He followed that up with 905 yards in his second season in 2023, though he saw his yards-per-carry average drop to 4.1.

But coach Mike Macdonald had been vague about Walker’s status beyond saying only “he’s gonna be out this game’’ when asked if the team had learned anything about a timeline for his return.

Walker, who was the 41st overall pick of the 2022 draft out of Michigan State, had 1,050 yards in 15 games as a rookie in 2022, averaging 4.6 per attempt.

He followed that up with 905 yards in his second season in 2023, though he saw his yards-per-carry average drop to 4.1.

Walker, who had long gains of 74 yards in 2022 and 45 in 2023, had a long run this season of 28 in Week 4 against the Lions.

He didn’t have a run of longer than 14 in his last six games, encompassing 88 carries.

The Seahawks will now go the rest of the way — barring a long playoff run — with Charbonnet, a second-round pick in 2023 who has 453 yards and averaging 4.3 per attempt and turned in the best game this season by a Seahawk rusher with 134 in a in at Arizona on Dec. 8; and McIntosh, a seventh-round pick a year ago who has 77 on 17. Holani, an undrafted free agent out of Boise State, has 10 yards on three attempts.

Grubb on Tuesday said he was confident the team can put together a good running game no matter who is in the backfield.

“Yeah, I don’t think that personnel-wise we should have any limitations,’’ he said. “We should be able to keep building those things up front. We’re in good shape, so I think you just focus more on the offensive line and maybe less on the runners.”

Walker will enter the final season of his rookie contract in 2025 when he is due to make $1,856,125, none of which is guaranteed. Teams can extend rookie contracts after a player’s third year, meaning Walker could ask for a new deal following this season.

Whether the Seahawks will want to — or for how much — could loom as one of the more interesting questions of the offseason.