You would think that with the Seattle Seahawks taking Kenneth Walker III last season, running back wouldn’t be a position they’d use a Round 1 or Round 2 draft pick on this year. Well, Rashaad Penny and Travis Homer departed the team in free agency, and the Seahawks love drafting running backs on Day 1 or Day 2 anyway.
With the No. 52 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Seahawks selected UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet, making him the third-highest running back picked by Pete Carroll and John Schneider, only behind Walker and Penny. This is the third time in five years they’ve used a first- or second-round pick on a running back, and given all of the discourse about taking running backs early (which has extended into Round 2 after previously being mostly about Round 1), not to mention the glaring weaknesses along the defensive line and even the interior defensive line for the Seahawks, this is a polarizing pick.