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Recovery
Charbonnet Is on the Field Again, and That’s the Whole Story
Zach Charbonnet got some light on-field work in at the VMAC during mandatory minicamp this week, and on a normal ACL calendar he has no business being out there yet. He tore the ligament on the Lumen turf in the January 17 divisional round and didn’t have surgery until February, because doctors needed the knee to calm down first. Now it’s early June and he’s moving. Carefully, but moving.
~5 months
Time between Charbonnet’s February ACL surgery and his first light field work this week.
Let’s be clear about what we actually saw. SI on Seahawks described it as gentle side-shuffling, not a goal-line dive. He is a long way from carrying the ball in a game that matters. But the point isn’t the intensity of the work, it’s that there’s any work at all.
The video is gentle. The timeline is not. You don’t shuffle on a knee you don’t trust, and you don’t shuffle this early unless the people in charge of your knee are quietly pleased with how it’s healing. Macdonald has spent the entire spring calling Charbonnet’s recovery a great job without committing to a date. This is the first thing we’ve seen that backs up the optimism instead of just narrating it.
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The video is gentle. The timeline is not.
It matters because the backfield math runs through him. Jadarian Price is the shiny first-round rookie, Emanuel Wilson and George Holani are the depth, and the assumption all offseason was that Charbonnet opens the year on PUP. If he beats that timeline, Seattle’s running back room goes from “interesting” to “deep” in a hurry, and Price doesn’t have to be the answer in Week 1.
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Defense
Emmanwori Wants to Be a Pass Rusher Now, Too
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This is a safety asking to add pass rushing to a resume that already includes five positions and a Super Bowl ring as a rookie. Emmanwori posted 81 combined tackles and nine for loss in 2025. Now he wants a blade he didn’t have. Macdonald’s defense was built to allow exactly this kind of thing, and a 6-foot-3 safety who can blitz off the edge is the sort of chess piece that keeps offensive coordinators up at night.
The honest read: this is still June, in shorts, against air. But the player driving it is the one who matters. When your most versatile defender is asking for more to do rather than less, you let him cook and see how many things he can break.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Darnold and JSN are already trending toward midseason form in the final week of the offseason program. A franchise quarterback and his $168.6 million receiver building chemistry in June is the kind of boring you happily sign up for. Emerald City Spectrum Emerald City Spectrum
DeMarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams were back on the field for Day 1 of minicamp. Two veterans who could’ve coasted through the last required week of June instead showed up to coach up the kids. Continuity isn’t a slogan here, it’s the staffing plan. Emerald City Spectrum Emerald City Spectrum
Safety Rodney Thomas II is using minicamp to fight for a 53-man spot. The Yale product can read the field and hold up against the run, which on a defense this loaded is the difference between a roster and a resume. 12th Man Rising 12th Man Rising
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
CARDINALS
While Seattle’s veterans coach up rookies for free, Arizona’s offseason highlight is receiver Michael Wilson forging a mentorship with Larry Fitzgerald, who reportedly toured Wilson through his business offices and talked about life after football. Lovely stuff. Nothing says “contending now” like your young receiver getting career-after-football advice from a Hall of Famer in June.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Which Seahawks linebacker did Seattle trade up to draft 45th overall in 2005, then watched make the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons despite scouts calling him too small and too slow?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Lofa Tatupu, out of USC. GM Tim Ruskell used two fourth-round picks to move up nine spots for him and took heat for it, then Tatupu started all 16 games as a rookie and anchored the linebacker corps of Seattle’s first Super Bowl team.
Got a Question for the Mailbag?
The offseason is almost over and the silence before training camp is the longest stretch of the year. Send me your questions about the backfield, the edge room, the sale, or whatever’s keeping you up at night. I’ll answer the best one in a future issue.
One more day of minicamp, then the jewelry, then the long quiet. Soak it up. Go Hawks. — The Rooster