Zach Charbonnet's ACL recovery still has no timetable, Seahawks say

Zach Charbonnet has been rehabbing since tearing his ACL in Seattle's divisional-round win over the 49ers last postseason, and he went under the knife on Feb. 20. Six months later, the Seahawks still can't tell you when he's playing football again.

Head coach Mike Macdonald gave the clearest update yet on where things stand, and it's the classic ACL-rehab non-answer: progress, but no finish line. "It's just a progression that you've got to be able to do to get your body ready to play at the RB position. He's going through it, hitting his hurdles and we're rolling. We'll see what the time table is and how quickly he comes back," Macdonald said, via @hawkblogger.

That's coach-speak for it's going fine, don't ask us for a date. Charbonnet opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list, which was the expected first step. If he's still on PUP when Seattle opens the season Sept. 9 against the Patriots, NFL rules force him to miss at least the first 4 games regardless of how he's actually feeling.

That vacuum is exactly why rookie Jadarian Price matters so much right now. Seattle used a premium pick on him this past draft, and with Charbonnet sidelined, George Holani and free-agent add Emanuel Wilson also in the mix, Price has had every opportunity to grab the early-down job and not give it back.

Fantasy analysts are already bracing for the worst-case timeshare scenario. On the Yahoo Fantasy Football pod, Nate Tice predicted that whenever Charbonnet does get back on the field, it's "going to be another frustrating [split]" between him and Price rather than a clean hand-off of the workload.

For now that's speculation, not a depth chart. But it tells you where the smart money is: even a healthy Charbonnet might not mean bell-cow numbers, because Price has had all camp to make this his backfield too. Until Macdonald actually puts a date on the board, Seattle's running back room stays one of the murkiest fantasy situations in the league.