The Seattle Seahawks threw us all a bit of a curveball on Friday afternoon after adding running back Kenneth Walker to the injury report ahead of the Week 12 game against the Tennessee Titans.
After practicing in full the first two days of the week, Walker was added to the injury report due to a glute issue and was limited at practice.
That led to Seattle giving Walker the questionable tag for Sunday, which obviously puts his status for Week 12 in question, at least on the surface.
However, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald provided a positive injury update after Walker's addition that puts fears over his status to bed.
Will Kenneth Walker play in Week 12?
According to Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune, Macdonald said Walker getting the questionable tag was just "precautionary" and called the glute injury "maintenance" rather than a new injury.
Macdonald added that Walker "should be fine" to play in Week 12 against the Titans, according to John Boyle of Seahawks.com.
So, putting it all together, we would expect Walker to be on the field on Sunday.
That said, it will certainly be worth monitoring his status ahead of kickoff. Seattle will release its inactives an hour and a half before the 1 p.m. ET game start.
More opportunities for Kenneth Walker?
Walker's late addition to the injury report comes in the same week Macdonald said Walker is "showing that he deserves more opportunities," which is a strong hint he is going to see more work moving forward.
Walker has been seeing close to an even split with Zach Charbonnet all season despite the fact he is clearly the better back.
Walker has carried the rock 136 times to Charbonnet's 105 and is averaging a full 1.2 yards more per carry. Walker has just five more receptions and targets than Charbonnet, also, and is averaging 1.7 yards more per catch.
Seattle's offense will be better if Walker gets more opportunities, and that would be great news for Walker, who is slated to be a free agent in 2026 and needs to finish strong to get the lucrative, long-term deal he's seeking.
What happens if Walker doesn't play?
If Walker doesn't end up playing on Sunday, the Seahawks will deploy Charbonnet as their lead back.
Charbonnet has basically operated as the 1B to Walker's 1A when both have been healthy, so he's next in line on the depth chart.
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