After missing Sunday's 30-18 win over the Arizona Cardinals, it remains to be seen whether or not Ken Walker III will be back in action when the Seattle Seahawks host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football at Lumen Field.
Walker played the entire game during a road victory over the Jets two weeks ago, but the third-year back popped up on the Seahawks' injury report last Wednesday with calf and ankle injuries. Initially limited at practice on Wednesday, he sat out the next two days and received a questionable designation, only for the team to rule him out on Saturday.
When asked about Walker's status during his weekly Monday press conference, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald didn't have any concrete updates on his prognosis, though he did suggest that the team should have a better idea of his timeline in the next day or two as preparation for the Packers starts to ramp up.
"There's some medical stuff that I don't really know, but definitely it's his calf at this point," Macdonald explained. "It's not his ankle. In terms of his status right now, we're not sure. There are some more tests that we're doing right now, on it as we speak, and so we'll hopefully know more over the next 24 to 48 hours."
While Seattle hopes Walker will be available for Sunday's massive prime time contest, if he has to miss a second straight game, Zach Charbonnet has proven more than capable of holding his own as the feature back. Starting his third game of the season against Arizona, he rushed for a career-high 134 yards and two touchdowns, including a 51-yard scamper on a well-blocked counter trey run, producing six missed forced tackles and 125 yards after contact per Pro Football Focus.
Aside from his career day on the ground, Charbonnet also reeled in seven receptions for 59 yards, providing a reliable checkdown target out of the backfield for Geno Smith and picking up 20 yards on a running back screen.
"His full talents were on display," Macdonald said of Charbonnet. "Out of the backfield, running the ball, so he's kind of a threat at all different points. He made a heck of a catch on a check-down, there were three guys surrounding him. If he tips that ball, that's a possible takeaway. So how he's able to take care of the ball, I think just his after-contact type of yardage and productivity was really awesome to see running through some arm tackles."
The Seahawks also received excellent contributions from Kenny McIntosh in a reserve role on Sunday, as he pitched in seven carries for 38 yards, taking advantage of a career-high in carries averaging 5.4 yards per tote. He added a pair of receptions for seven yards out of the backfield, playing well enough that the coaching staff should have no reservations about deploying him more as a change of pace back in Walker's absence.
From a depth perspective, undrafted rookie George Holani still has one practice squad elevation remaining before he has to be signed to the 53-man roster to suit up again, so the Seahawks will have the ability to activate him to play against the Packers if necessary. A decision on that front won't have to be made until Saturday.
