Seattle's Backfield Has Now Run Out of Easy Answers

The Mixon deal collapsed after he failed his physical — I noted that here on October 7 — and with Jadarian Price already on injured reserve and Zach Charbonnet still out, the depth chart at running back currently lists Brady Russell, Emanuel Wilson, and a questionable George Holani as the bodies available. That is not a rotation built for a defending champion trying to protect a lead in the fourth quarter.

What makes this stretch unusual is the pace of it. In roughly two weeks, Seattle has waived a back, signed a veteran replacement, watched that deal fall apart at the physical, and now has to go find a third answer. The names at the top of that depth chart — Russell and Wilson — have not logged the kind of meaningful snaps that would tell you much about what they can handle as featured carries.

Charbonnet, when healthy, was a genuine weapon out of the backfield last season. Kenneth Walker III carried the ground game through the championship run. Neither is available right now in any reliable sense. The team will keep looking — they have to — but the market for capable backs who can pass a physical and contribute immediately is not deep in October.

My read: the next move matters more than the last two combined. Signing someone and having it stick would be a small thing under normal circumstances. Right now it would be the first stable piece of news this backfield has had in a while.