Jadarian Price's camp had gone quiet for a few days, and quiet is never a great sign for a rookie trying to lock down a starting job. But the Notre Dame product was back on the practice field Monday, per CorbinSmithNFL, ending the mini-scare before it turned into a real one.
Price wasn't just present, either. He was a full go and took the majority of the reps, according to hawkblogger, which is the version of this story Seattle wanted. The Seahawks used the 32nd overall pick on Price this spring specifically to replace Kenneth Walker III, who left for Kansas City in free agency, and head coach Mike Macdonald had already downplayed the earlier absence as "lower body soreness" and a matter of days.
The timing matters because the backfield picture in Seattle is thinner than it looks on paper. Zach Charbonnet, who was expected to share the load, is still working back from a torn ACL suffered in the divisional round against San Francisco and remains on the PUP list. Reports have Charbonnet's Week 1 status as a real question mark, which means the majority-reps workload Price just soaked up isn't a one-day blip — it's closer to the actual job description right now.
Not everyone's ready to crown him, though. Fantasy analysts have been careful not to overhype the situation, even with the opportunity sitting right there. Hayden Winks made that clear on the Yahoo Fantasy Football pod, saying he isn't viewing Price as "some kind of home run selection" despite the clear runway to touches.
Hayden Winks explains why he's not fully bought in on Jadarian Price dominating Seattle's backfield touches despite the opportunity in front of him.
That's a fair hedge for a rookie who hasn't played a real NFL snap yet, but it also undersells how good his setup is. A first-round investment, a starter recovering from a torn ACL, and a coaching staff already comparing him to prime Dalvin Cook is about as clean a runway as a Day 1 back gets. The skepticism is about proving it in pads on Sundays — not about whether the reps are there for the taking.
For now, the story is simple: Price is healthy, he's the workhorse in practice, and Charbonnet's return is still murky enough to keep him that way into September. Whether he turns that opportunity into fantasy relevance is the debate — but the job is his to lose.