Seattle’s struggling ground game receives a massive boost as the powerhouse running back clears a major recovery milestone, officially returning to the practice field following a summer injury.
A Seattle Seahawks question entering the week: When will Zach Charbonnet return from his knee injury to help the defending Super Bowl champs and their ailing running game?
The Thursday morning answer?
Right now.
The Seahawks have officially designated Charbonnet to return from PUP, announcing that he will begin practicing with the team.
The Seahawks' run game was always going to be a close watch this season, with no Kenneth Walker (leaving via free agency to Kansas City) and no Charbonnet (dealing with an ACL injury over the summer).
And after Seattle's 33-31 loss to the Washington Commanders, some are wondering how Charbonnet's recovery is going.
There was a thought that maybe he could return to the practice field this week, which would be a huge boost to the Seahawks. Granted, he's still a few months away from returning to play.
With the Seahawks' ground game struggling in Washington, Charbonnet continues to work on his rehab in the background.
But when could we see him return to the practice field?
"Yeah, no update," Macdonald said on Wednesday. "So, we're still working through that process. I'm sure we'll have an answer by sometime tomorrow whether or not he'll start practicing this week. So, it's not out of the question yet. We just haven't had an update."
But now? An update. And a key one.
The running back room still has plenty of bodies.
But ticking off certain things on his checklist is what it is all about for Charbonnet, and returning to practice is obviously a big one.
So far, it's been rookie Jadarian Price (who is banged up), Emanuel Wilson and George Holani who have been tasked with giving Sam Darnold some help, and while they were bottled up against Washington in the previous two games, the Seahawks got some good burn on the ground.
And we'd certainly imagine that when the workhorse Charbonnet does return - not just to practice today but to gameday action as well - that level of success will only increase.
