Breer: Kenneth Walker is 'star' at Seahawks training camp

SI's Albert Breer cites Charles Cross, Kenneth Walker as Seahawks breakouts to watch: 7/30/2024

SI’s Albert Breer spent a day at Seahawks training camp and the most important point that stood out to me was this one:

Kenneth Walker III was the star of Monday’s practice, the first one in full pads, and it reflected the sort of spring and summer he’s had. To the new staff, he looks like the kind of back you can play on all three downs, and build a running game around. And Zach Charbonnet gives the team some depth behind him.

A person like Albert Breer, who I take it is being pushed by SI as the new Peter King for the next 50 years, doesn’t travel to a team’s training camp without being granted some access to the coaches and getting intel on how “things are looking” before the season begins. So what does it mean to you that one of Breer’s main takeaways is that Kenneth Walker is a “three-down” back and that Zach Charbonnet is “some depth behind him”?

It tells me that after Shane Waldron and Pete Carroll were experimenting with different looks and options in the running game in 2023, Ryan Grubb is maybe not as concerned with sharing.

Walker had 228 carries in 15 games as a rookie, but that dipped a little bit to 219 carries in 15 games in year two.

By rushing attempts, Walker had twice as many carries as Charbonnet: 219 to 108. But by snaps, they were almost equal: 502 to 478

And what does Breer know of how Walker performed in the “spring and summer”? I can’t imagine that Albert Breer was calling up the Seahawks in the spring, then again in the summer, asking, “How’s Kenneth Walker looking?” barring a problematic fantasy football addiction.

That implies to me that coaches told Breer that Walker’s been trending up for the entire offseason, “spring and summer”, and that the ascension has only continued in training camp. Picking out and over-analyzing another couple of words that Breer said—”to the new staff”—is something that I will infer means that the old staff didn’t have as high of an opinion on Walker as the new one.

To me, Walker has always had the ceiling of being the NFL’s leading rusher. And yet in spite of the fact that he went to a team coached by THE Pete Carroll, Seattle couldn’t find the formula within the first two years to unwock Lalker for more than 900-1,000 yards. I am now getting a sense from this report that Grubb’s offensive staff sees a significant gap between Walker and Charbonnet.

Walker rushed for 905 yards with 4.1 yards per carry in 2023, but consider the weaknesses that Seattle had last season at right guard, center, and right tackle. The Seahawks didn’t get a full or a healthy season by Charles Cross at left tackle. Two of their five starters are either out of the NFL or benched (Evan Brown, Phil Haynes), while a third was basically a mix of Jake Curhan, Stone Forsythe, and Jason Peters. I can add Anthony Bradford in there too, now probably on Seattle’s bench, as he had 661 snaps at right guard.

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The Seahawks had to play Anthony Bradford for 150 more snaps than Kenneth Walker. Something’s not right with that picture.

On Cross, Breer had something interesting to say there too:

Charles Cross has the look of a guy who could ascend to an All-Pro level, and carrying that at left tackle is a good place for any offensive line to start. But there are real questions on what the team will do at the interior spots that need to be sorted through in the coming weeks. Veteran Laken Tomlinson likely locks in one guard spot. Second-year man Anthony Bradford has the talent to be a pillar at the other one, but will have to hold off McClendon Curtis. And Nick Harris and Olu Oluwatimi are battling to be the starting center. How those battles shake out looms as a swing factor for the offense.

Breer calls Cross a left tackle who “could ascend to an All-Pro level” which…I certainly think that Breer is aware that he’s saying that Charles Cross could be the next Trent Williams. Because that’s an All-Pro left tackle. There’s not very many of those. I don’t think that’s something that anyone has said about Cross since 2023. But maybe the vibe in VMAC is that he’s never looked so good before.

Whenever a team hires a new offensive line coach, whether that’s with a new coaching staff or the incumbent one, there’s always the hope that it will permanently change the outlook of the unit. With Scott Huff now in place, that’s definitely what Seahawks fans are hoping for and a potential reason for some of these players to improve from last season.

Breer doesn’t really say anything about any of the offensive line competitions that we couldn’t have already guessed or said ourselves. It is a short article, but he made no mention of Christian Haynes. That could just be because the Seahawks are keeping Haynes with the 2s.

On Riq Woolen, Breer said that he has “a good mentality with more poise in the past” (presumably nodding to the fact that Woolen was called out for not giving efforts on some plays last season), that Devon Witherspoon could be a team captain, and that Byron Murphy has “impressed with his approach and work ethic”, while comparing him to Grady Jarrett.

Finally, Breer said he had “a good long talk with Geno Smith today”, although I have no idea what they talked about for so long. Breer doesn’t really say. Actually, he just says that “coaches are pretty happy” with him and that he’s taken on more of a leadership role after being nudged to do so by the coaches.

Overall, I’m just curious what an unchallenged number one role in Seattle’s offense could mean for Kenneth Walker.

As you know, Walker has been a favorite of the Seaside Joe newsletter since before he was drafted by the Seahawks. It was a few weeks before the draft that I wrote that I’d be totally fine with it and excited if Seattle took either Breece Hall or Kenneth Walker in the second round. Then together, those of you who were here in the summer of ‘22, we watched every game of Walker’s at Wake Forest and Michigan State. He was consistently awesome, surpassing already high expectations, and I never doubted that he could be the most exciting back in the NFL if—like any other player—he got lucky in addition to being talented.

We’ve seen Walker flash that 99th percentile talent before in NFL games. Perhaps getting a better offensive line and a new offensive coordinator, he can now be lucky in addition to being talented.