Jadarian Price and George Holani Are Splitting a Seahawks Backfield That Lost Its Super Bowl MVP

Seattle enters its preseason opener against Dallas on Saturday with the most unsettled backfield of any defending Super Bowl champion in recent memory. Kenneth Walker III, the Super Bowl LX MVP, signed with Kansas City in free agency. Zach Charbonnet, who tore his ACL during the playoff run and had surgery in late February, opened camp on the physically unable to perform list. First-round rookie Jadarian Price has missed practice time with upper leg soreness. George Holani, an undrafted holdover, is listed atop the team's unofficial preseason depth chart.

That is four different stories pointing in four directions, and it is why Seattle's backfield is one of the hardest rooms in fantasy football to price right now.

What is actually confirmed

Charbonnet had ACL surgery in late February and is on PUP. ESPN's Seattle beat reporting has indicated he may not return to play until late in the season, which is consistent with a typical eight-to-twelve month timeline from a February procedure. A player on the reserve/PUP list to start the regular season must miss at least the first four games, and Seattle has given no indication he will be ready before that window closes. Treat him as a stash, not a Week 1 asset.

Price was the No. 32 overall pick out of Notre Dame. Head coach Mike Macdonald has spoken well of his preparation and said the team expects to use two and possibly three backs in a game plan, starting with the preseason. Price has been dealing with upper leg soreness and missed multiple camp practices in the lead-up to the Dallas game, with his availability for Saturday in question as of late this week.

Holani was listed as the RB1 on the unofficial preseason depth chart. Unofficial depth charts in August are largely a function of who has been healthy and who has been taking reps, not a declaration of the Week 1 plan. Holani has taken first-team work while Price has been limited, which is the simplest explanation for the listing.

The trap in the depth chart

The mistake fantasy managers make every August is reading an unofficial preseason depth chart as a starting lineup. It is not. It is a required administrative document, and coaches routinely say so out loud.

The more useful signal in Seattle is Macdonald's own framing: two, possibly three backs in the game plan. That is a coach telling you in advance that he does not intend to hand one player a bell-cow workload, at least not to start. Seattle's offense generated an enormous rushing output on the way to a title, but it did so with a genuinely elite runner. Replacing that with a committee is a different projection entirely.

The read: Price is the talent, Holani is the incumbent with the passing-down and pass-protection reps, and the split is likely to be usage-dependent rather than cleanly defined. That is the worst possible shape for a fantasy asset, because it caps the ceiling without lowering the draft cost much.

Fantasy fallout

Price is being drafted as a rookie running back with a projected starting job on a run-heavy championship offense. That is an expensive combination, and the soft-tissue issue in August is exactly the kind of thing that turns a confident projection into a Week 1 guessing game. He remains the right side of the room to invest in, because talent and draft capital win these battles by October more often than not, but he should not be paid as if the job is already his.

Holani is the better value. He costs almost nothing, he is currently listed first, and he has the pass-protection profile that tends to keep a back on the field on third down. In a room where the rookie is banged up, that is a legitimate path to early-season volume. He is a late-round pick who can be cut without regret in Week 3 if Price takes over.

Charbonnet is a dynasty and deep-bench consideration only. A player returning from a February ACL who is not expected back until late in the season has almost no redraft value in a standard 12-team league.

The Verdexed model take

The model projects Seattle as a top-ten rushing offense by attempts and a bottom-half rushing offense by efficiency, which is the profile of a team that will feed the position without generating the explosive plays that made last season work. That combination produces useful RB2 volume split across two bodies rather than one RB1.

The distribution the model favors as of today is roughly a two-thirds share of early-down work for whichever back is healthiest, with the passing-down role stable and separate. Under that structure, the projected fantasy output for the Seattle backfield in aggregate is meaningfully lower than the raw team rushing volume implies, because no single player captures enough of it.

On the betting side, the more actionable read is Seattle's team total in September. A committee backfield with a rookie recovering from a leg issue is a reason to be cautious on Seahawks first-half team totals in the opening weeks, particularly on the road, until the split resolves.

What to do in your league

Draft Holani late. He is nearly free and he is the direct beneficiary if Price's leg issue lingers into September.

Take Price at a discount to his current price, not at it. If he goes off the board where a locked-in starting rookie back goes, let someone else have him. If he slides because of the practice absences, he is a fine pick.

Do not roster Charbonnet in redraft leagues shallower than 14 teams. Dynasty managers should be buying, because his post-return role is the one the Seattle offense was actually built to feature.

What's next

Saturday against Dallas is the first real data point. If Price plays and takes the first snaps, the room clarifies quickly and his price will jump. If he sits again, Holani's late-round cost becomes one of the better values on the board. Either way, the second preseason game, when starters typically get a series, is the more reliable tell. Watch which back is on the field for the opening drive, not who is listed first on a piece of paper.