Seahawks RB Zach Charbonnet revealed on his Instagram that he had surgery to repair his ACL on Friday.
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He was initially injured in Seattle’s divisional round win over the 49ers back in mid-January. There was optimism that he had avoided a major injury but imaging unfortunately showed a worst-case scenario.
It’s a little unusual for surgery to be a month post-injury but not unprecedented, as sometimes there’s a wait for the swelling to go down while the athlete does pre-rehab.
Still, the standard timeline for a recovery post-ACL surgery is nine to 12 months. Even in a best-case scenario, that puts Charbonnet out for a major chunk of the 2026 season and it’s not out of the question he misses the whole year.
This puts him and the team in a weird situation. Next year is the final year of Charbonnet’s rookie contract, so this prevents him from putting his best foot forward. The Seahawks also have fellow RB Kenneth Walker on an expiring contract, so they face an urgent need at the position without Charbonnet.
Charbonnet, 25, began his career at Michigan before transferring to UCLA for his final two seasons. He was honorable mention all-conference as a freshman and earned second and first-team All-Pac 12 selections in two years at UCLA.
The Seahawks drafted Charbonnet with the 52nd overall pick in the second round of the 2023 draft. He signed a four-year, $6,876,080 rookie contract that includes a $2,000,785 signing bonus and carries a cap figure of $1,875,294 in 2025.
In 2025, Charbonnet appeared in 16 games for the Seahawks and rushed 184 times for 730 yards (4.0 YPC) and 12 touchdowns. He also caught 20 passes for 144 yards.
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