Seahawks draft picks: A SECOND ROUND RB!

Zach Charbonnet!

While the Seattle Seahawks have been pretty atypical this offseason, with the 52nd pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Seahawks did something typical for Pete Carroll: Running back Zach Charbonnet out of UCLA!

The move will be criticized by the same people who were upset about the Ken Walker III pick in 2022, but whether it is right or wrong, Seattle is adding another talented player in the backfield to help Geno Smith. It’s an area of need that I wrote about on Friday morning, I just expected the Seahawks to test free agency this summer instead of plucking another back on day two.

However, that was largely predicated on not knowing exactly which running back who Pete would like the most. If he’s choosing Charbonnet out of this group—only the third running back drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft after Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs—it means that he has an exceptionally high grade for him in the NFL.

And like it or not, getting someone else besides DeeJay Dallas to complement Walker in 2023 was one of the Seahawks’ greatest remaining needs.

Charbonnet is 6’, 214 lbs, and he ran a 4.53 40-yard dash with a 1.54 10-yard split. He might have been the second best transfer running back in the country in 2021—after Walker—rushing for 1,137 yards and 13 touchdowns in Chip Kelly’s UCLA offense after leaving Michigan. He followed that up with 195 carries for 1,359 yards, with 7.0 yards per carry, and 14 touchdowns in 2022, plus 37 catches for 321 yards.

When asked what he does for fun, in the past he has said, “Work out. That’s what we do for fun.”

"(Charbonnet) loves to train and he feels like strengthening his body and doing these extra things is going to get him better and get him ready," Mendoza said. "When I say he trusts his training, he’s trusting those things to actually get him through the harder parts of the game. 

"When he gets into those hardest parts of the game, he’s not getting weaker — he’s getting stronger because he’s trained his body to overcome the weaknesses. His weaknesses aren’t normal people weaknesses."

He is an obsessive athlete and he went to the same Hollywood high school as Joe Montana’s son Nick Montana, Jimmy Clausen, and Kayvon Thibodeaux. Charbonnet is inspired to be better by his sister Bella who was born with Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, and she is surely someone who Seahawks fans will come to know in the coming years.

Charbonnet has rushed for at least 100 yards in 15 games over the last two seasons. He has been compared to Najee Harris, a first round pick in 2021, as well as Chris Carson.

The Seahawks have drafted the most running backs of any team since 2016, which some people will have to deal with. It won’t hurt if the Seahawks have fresh legs into December and January next season instead of leaning on either Walker or Charbonnet on their own.

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