Seahawks RB George Holani Ahead Of Jadarian Price?

Last year’s RB1, Kenneth Walker, took a big payday to head to Kansas City in free agency. Walker claims that he knew partway into the regular season that he would probably be leaving that way. That could speak to the preparedness with which the team approached the planning for the future of the position. Over the past two years, it has become clear that, should the team choose to move on from or not be able to retain Walker, the Seahawks had plenty of faith in backup Zach Charbonnet.

Charbonnet may still be in the team’s plans for the future, but a torn ACL suffered in the second round of the playoffs has muddied the team’s depth chart to start the season. About two and a half weeks ago, head coach Mike Macdonald refused to close the door on the potential for Charbonnet to return in time to open the season. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that Charbonnet is progressing well in his recovery, but it still seems fairly likely that he will start the year on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.

So, if both RB1 and RB2 from the team’s Super Bowl campaign are unavailable to start the season, the Seahawks have a few decent options they can turn to. The first option most would expect them to look at is Jadarian Price, the team’s most recent addition after he was taken out of Notre Dame in the first round of this year’s draft. Price didn’t start in his three years playing for the Fighting Irish, but the player who started over him, Jeremiyah Love, was the only running back drafted higher than he was in the draft.

According to Brady Henderson of ESPN, Price is not the player working most often with the first-team offense in Seattle. That honor would go to George Holani, who took over RB2 duties when Charbonnet was injured last year. Signing with the Seahawks as an undrafted back out of Boise State two years ago, Holani hasn’t seen much in-game action, but the team considered him reliable enough to turn to him for snaps in their two biggest games of the season over former seventh-round pick Kenny McIntosh.

Per Henderson, Holani is “looking to build off his strong finish” last year and has been getting the first opportunities on the first-team offense, more often than not, over Price and free agent addition Emanuel Wilson. Price could certainly find his sea legs and prove to the staff that he is ready to hand starting responsibilities, but it appears to be Holani’s job for the taking. With Charbonnet expected to return at some point in the season, it’s a solution to a short-term problem, but it appears Holani is the answer for now.