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Camp Watch
Charbonnet’s Knee Finally Has a Date on the Calendar
Zach Charbonnet has a knee check-up scheduled for late July, according to a new report on his ACL recovery, landing right around when training camp opens. It’s the first hard waypoint on a rehab that’s been running on Macdonald optimism and grainy minicamp footage since the surgery.
Here’s the honest read: this doesn’t tell us he plays Week 1. It tells us the medical staff wants a fresh look at the knee at the exact moment the pads come on, which is precisely when you’d want a look before deciding anything. The tea leaves are neutral. That’s still progress, because for months the only update was some version of “he’s tracking well,” which is what everybody says about every player who isn’t visibly limping.
The stakes here are the whole backfield. Kenneth Walker III is in Kansas City now, and Charbonnet is the veteran the room is built around. Behind him it’s rookie Jadarian Price, a first-rounder who never started a college game, and George Holani. That’s not a disaster. It’s also not a group you want leaning on a knee that’s five months out from a February repair.
He was quietly excellent before it ended, too. Charbonnet ran for 730 yards and 12 touchdowns before the ACL went in the divisional round. A healthy version of him changes what Brian Fleury can ask of this offense in September. An uncertain one puts a lot of weight on a rookie’s shoulders very fast.
730 / 12
Charbonnet’s rushing yards and touchdowns in 2025 before the ACL tear ended his season.
Somewhere in Renton there’s a calendar with the last week of July circled. An entire backfield’s season is quietly hanging on it.
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Camp
The Countdown Is Real Now, and Field Gulls Is Packing Its Bags
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What makes this feel official isn’t the dates, it’s the logistics. One camp session will again be held at Lumen Field, and it’ll share the night with the Mariners’ 50 Seasons celebration against Tampa Bay. Two teams, one city, one very busy evening in SoDo. If you’ve ever tried to park down there on a night like that, you already know the real opponent is the exit ramp.
This is the first camp anyone in the building runs as a defending champion, with HBO cameras due to show up before it ends. The quiet part of the offseason is nearly over. Twenty-one days from now, we stop guessing and start watching.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Seaside Joe’s player rankings hit Nos. 31-40, the point where every name is a fan favorite and the takes get spicy. When you’ve ranked 51 players before you reach your bench guys, that’s not filler. That’s the receipt for a champion’s depth chart. Seaside Joe
Field Gulls laid out what makes or breaks Anthony Bradford at right guard in 2026, and the verdict is he’ll probably reprise the job. Rookie Beau Stephens is still breathing down his neck. The most debated Seahawk gets to be the most debated Seahawk for at least one more August. Field Gulls
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Aaron Donald posted a workout video Tuesday captioned, simply, “work,” and the Rams organization received it like a scroll from the heavens. Per Jason La Canfora’s reporting, there’s a growing sense inside the building and around the league that the future Hall of Famer actually comes back in 2026. So the Super Bowl favorite that already imported Myles Garrett may soon reactivate the best interior defender of his generation off the strength of one Instagram caption. Cool. Reading the tea leaves on a 35-year-old’s gym posts is a fun way to spend July when you don’t have a Lombardi.
CARDINALS
Newsweek’s Cardinals camp preview arrived under a headline telling Arizona fans to “embrace the rebuild,” which is a bold thing to publish about a team that just went 0-8 against us over its best tight end’s four seasons here. Embrace it, fellas. We’ll be at Lumen in September ready to help you practice.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Which Seattle punter threw a 19-yard touchdown pass on a fake field goal in the third quarter of the 2014 NFC Championship, becoming the first punter to throw a touchdown pass in an NFL playoff game?
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Jon Ryan. He hit Garry Gilliam for the score with Seattle trailing 16-0; the Seahawks stormed back to win 28-22 and reach a second straight Super Bowl. Ryan, a Canadian out of Regina, punted ten seasons in Seattle.
Got a Question Rattling Around in There?
The Mailbag is open, and camp is close enough to smell the fresh turf. Send your roster debates, your cap math, your unhinged depth-chart theories. The best ones get answered in this space, in my voice, with roughly the amount of honesty you’d expect from someone who’s been doing this since the Kingdome.
Twenty-one days until the pads come on. Enjoy the last quiet holiday weekend before the noise. — The Rooster