The Seattle Seahawks have taken care of business so far in the first half of their Monday Night Football game against the Houston Texans. They take an eight-point lead into halftime and are looking to keep pace with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams in the NFC West division race. While it’s looking good, Kenneth Walker III has started off slow in the primetime matchup.
Kenneth Walker III’s Slow Start
Walker was looking to bounce back from a tough Week 6 matchup against the Jaguars, but instead it has been more of the same.
He’s getting outplayed by backup Zach Charbonnet and Charbonnet has found the end zone in the first half. It might be Walker’s birthday, but it hasn’t translated to any luck on the field.
Zach Charbonnet first TD on Kenneth Walker’s bday is BRUTAL 😭
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/R7kZLLMtLu
— br_betting (@br_betting) October 21, 2025
Walker has seven carries for 10 yards while Charbonnet has six carries for 39 yards and the score. Walker needs to get going or Charbonnet could be gunning for the starting job. Walker has had a very inconsistent start to the 2025 season with a few good games mixed with quite a few bad ones.
In the second half, the Seahawks relied on Charbonnet in the red zone. He found the end zone for the second time on Monday night to bring Seattle’s lead to 15 points. Walker got six carries in the third quarter taking his total to 13 carries for only 33 yards. It was better than the first half, but the Seahawks trusted Charbonnet to cash in in the goal-to-go situation.
Charbonnet only had two carries in the third quarter for a total of one yard despite the two-yard score. The Seahawks are still relying on Walker to take most of their carries, but have plenty of faith in Charbonnet, using him in the situations where they need some clutch yardage.
Charbonnet has looked like a much more dynamic option running the football compared to Walker. It will be a story to monitor in the second half if he begins to take more of the carries against Houston. The Seahawks offense is very dangerous through the air with Sam Darnold playing at a high level and Jaxon Smith-Njigba is proving to be one of the best weapons in the NFL.
The Seahawks offense is sitting at sixth in PFSN’s Offense Impact score with a grade of 86.2. Walker is the 22nd-ranked running back in PFSN’s Running Back Impact score. His grade is 77.2, which is just above Lions superstar Jahmyr Gibbs. Walker isn’t grading out that bad, but he’s definitely struggled at points throughout the season.
Despite Walker having an up and down season, the Seahawks have looked great and are giving themselves a shot in the division. The Rams and 49ers are not going anywhere and continue to stack wins. When it comes to the big games, the Seahawks are going to have to find an answer for their running game whether it’s Walker or Charbonnet carrying the load.
The Seahawks have to stay focused, though, as they haven’t wrapped up their game against Houston. The Texans will be desperate to get back to .500 and the Seahawks have to hold off a potential charge from Houston to keep pace in the divisional race.