The Seahawks are now well into training camp, but how is the run game looking under the new coordinator?
The Seattle Seahawks' run game under new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury is still very much a work in progress.
With George Holani and rookie Jadarian Price at the top of the depth chart, followed by Emanuel Wilson, Velus Jones Jr., and Jacardia Wright, it feels like a running back-by-committee approach until Zach Charbonnet returns from his ACL injury.
We saw Holani get most of the work against the Dallas Cowboys in the 17-7 loss at Lumen Field, with the other top backs all out.
Still, we did see some good things from Holani and the offensive line on the first drive, as they marched down the field for a touchdown, but it is far from the finished product.
We have heard from Sam Darnold and the running backs on how the ground game is looking, but we have yet to hear from the offensive line, who create the running lanes for the backs.
Left guard Grey Zabel gave his thoughts on how the run game under Fleury is progressing.
"Obviously, there's a lot to improve across the entire board, but I think it showed really good signs of how we're kind of projecting and getting better every single day," Zabel said.
"When you're going against a front like ours, you're finding out your deficiencies and what you need to get better at, at a very rapid rate in practice. So, at the end of the day, you can always improve and never [the] finished product."
Given how stout Seattle's defensive front is, going against that daily will make the group better, as the Seahawks aren't going to face that level of competition weekly in the NFL.
With Price coming along, so too Holani, the Seahawks appear to be in good shape as preseason rolls on, but as we know, the true evaluation will come when the regular season rolls around.
Until then, it is all about stacking good days in practice and learning from going up against one of the best defenses in football.
Zabel knows how crucial the run game is to Seattle's success, and with still plenty to work on as the preseason game against the Tennessee Titans comes into view, how much improvement we see from the Dallas game will be interesting to see.
