Seahawks injury report: Kenneth Walker Doubtful, both LBs Questionable

Will Tyrice Knight and Zach Charbonnet start against Patriots? 9/13/2024

Just one game into the season, the Seattle Seahawks are potentially going to dip into the most shallow end of their pool: Both starting linebackers, Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson, are listed as “Questionable” to play against the New England Patriots on the final injury report. That could mean that one or even both of rookie Tyrice Knight and Drake Thomas could get the start or see increased playing time in New England.

This news makes practice squad linebacker Patrick O’Connell a good bet as a call-up to play against the Patriots on Sunday, depending on the severity of injury for Baker (hamstring) and Dodson (shoulder). Both linebackers were limited in practice on Thursday, whereas George Fant (knee) and Kenneth Walker (oblique) have been held out of practice all week and are listed as “Doubtful”.

The Seahawks have ruled out TE Pharaoh Brown (foot) and LB Uchenna Nwosu (knee) for the second week in a row.

The news at tackle would leave Stone Forsythe as the starting right tackle and presumably Michael Jerrell as the next man up, if Fant is ruled out which seems likely. Seattle’s only option on the practice squad would be McClendon Curtis, someone who did get a lot of reps with the 1s and 2s in the offseason at tackle and guard.

Zach Charbonnet would get his third career start, if Walker is unable to go. Charbonnet started 2 games in place of Walker in 2023, also because of an oblique injury, and honestly it doesn’t matter how those games went. That was a different time, different teams, different defenses. Charbonnet had eight carries for 12 yards in Week 1 and I would say that the Patriots are almost always going to have a good run defense, especially at home.

Perhaps the more interesting running back to watch this week if Walker is out is Kenny McIntosh. You know, Charbonnet does certain things a lot better than McIntosh, but if we’re just purely talking about handing the ball to the back and letting him fly, McIntosh is more dynamic of a runner than Charbonnet. Will it be a situation where Charbonnet plays 70% of the snaps, but the five carries that go to McIntosh end up with two or three runs over 10 yards and he kind of steals the show?

With Brown out again, rookie A.J. Barner has a second week to establish his value as a blocker worthy of reps moving forward. He was highlighted in this week’s stock report. With Nwosu out again, the Seahawks utilized a rotation of Boye Mafe (rarely came off), Dre’Mont Jones (played 58% of the snaps) and Derick Hall (45%) in Week 1 and we might expect to see the same in Week 2. Will the team try to get Trevis Gipson more involved?

Tyrice Knight came off as a bit of a wild card in the offseason and preseason, flashing highs and lows expected of a fourth round rookie linebacker. Ready or not, Macdonald’s need to have Knight this week will be decided by factors totally out of anyone’s control and maybe on-the-job learning is the best kind of learning.