Zach Charbonnet Out as Seahawks Visit Broncos

Zach Charbonnet is staying on PUP for Thursday night in Denver. The Seattle Seahawks ruled the running back out for their Week 6 game against the Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High, even after he returned to practice on Oct. 1 and looked sharp enough that Mike Macdonald called him "tremendous."

Seattle has until Oct. 22 to activate Charbonnet off the physically unable to perform list. Skip this short week, and the next window opens after a full recovery week rather than a Thursday turnaround.

Why Macdonald will not rush him

Charbonnet tore his ACL in January's NFC divisional win over San Francisco, then had surgery after the Super Bowl. Macdonald stressed that the calendar is still short of nine months.

"He looks tremendous," Macdonald said. "Working through it on how we're going to handle the situation. Right now, our focus is on playing a game. He's not playing in this game. He's going to be cheering us on and then we'll move forward. We're not even at nine months. ... It's remarkable that we're having this conversation."

Charbonnet has been listed as limited on every injury report since the designation to return. Macdonald said postgame Sunday that Seattle was not planning to play him against Denver, and Wednesday's out designation locked that in.

Who carries the ball instead

With Charbonnet still on PUP and rookie first-rounder Jadarian Price on injured reserve for at least two more games, Emanuel Wilson and George Holani will keep leading the backfield. Velus Jones Jr. is the third running back after a roster shuffle that also moved Irv Charles back to the practice squad.

Fantasy managers should leave Charbonnet on the bench for TNF and watch next week's activation deadline instead of inventing a Thursday role.

The rest of Seattle's outs

Starting linebacker Drake Thomas (ankle) and Chazz Surratt (calf) are also out. Tyrice Knight will start at weakside linebacker. Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Leonard Williams carry no game designations despite ankle issues.

Denver will be without Pat Surtain II and Talanoa Hufanga on the other side, so the Broncos' secondary is already short-handed for Prime. That is a different problem from Seattle's backfield depth, but it frames Thursday as a game both teams are patching together on a short week.

Kickoff is Thursday night at Empower Field on Prime Video. Seahawks fans wanted Charbonnet's burst back for the thin air. They will have to wait one more week while Wilson and Holani try to move the sticks without him.