The Seahawks backfield looks nothing like it did a year ago. Kenneth Walker III, who ran for 135 yards and won Super Bowl LX MVP in Seattle, signed a 3-year, $43.05 million deal with the Chiefs this past March. That left a real opening at running back in Seattle, and the team used its first-round pick, No. 32 overall, on Notre Dame's Jadarian Price to fill it.
Price isn't just a name on a depth chart. He averaged 6.0 yards per carry for the Irish last season, rushing for 674 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 113 carries, and he flashed juice after contact throughout camp. CBS Sports' Pete Prisco is already selling the hype hard.
.@PriscoCBS believes the Seahawks have something in Jadarian Price: “In Seattle, by midway through the season they're going to say 'Kenneth who?'... I think this Price kid is special."
"In Seattle, by midway through the season they're going to say 'Kenneth who?'" Prisco said, per the tweet, adding he thinks "this Price kid is special." That's a bold line to throw around a rookie who hasn't taken a regular-season snap, but it underscores how much confidence is building around Price in Seattle's building this summer.
Walker, meanwhile, is dealing with his own hiccup — just not in Seattle anymore. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said this week that Walker's shoe has been causing swelling in his ankle, which will keep him out of Kansas City's preseason finale against, fittingly, his old team.
Andy Reid on RB Kenneth Walker's foot injury: “His shoe has been causing some swelling on his ankle. We're trying to get that down. He's going to be OK." (@goldmctNFL)
Reid downplayed the issue, saying Walker is "going to be OK" and framing it as a minor, cleat-related swelling problem rather than anything structural. Still, it's a strange bit of symmetry: Walker spent 4 seasons building his name in Seattle, and now he's nursing an ankle in Kansas City while a rookie tries to make the fanbase forget he ever wore the jersey.
None of this means Price is a lock to be Seattle's lead back by Week 9. Rookies stumble, camp hype fades, and Prisco's takes are, well, takes. But between the draft investment, the yards-after-contact flashes, and the fact that the Seahawks' presumptive starter is now walking around another team's facility, the runway for Price to take over is as clear as it gets.