The Seahawks need a running back. This isn’t a deep running back draft. The remaining veteran options hardly jump out at you. Unless something improbable happens, like trading for Jonathan Taylor, the Seahawks are going to have to find a solution.

But what do they need to add to their backfield?

The main thing they lost when Ken Walker joined the Chiefs was big plays.

An explosive run is typically described as a +10 yard effort. Walker was sixth in the 2025 regular season for explosive runs, behind De’Von Achane, James Cook, Bijan Robinson, Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor. However, he recorded his 33 explosive runs on just 221 attempts. Only Achane had a better rate of big plays.

So how can the 2025 draft help fill this void?

Let’s start by looking at explosive run rates for 2025 (the percentage of +10 yard runs a player has within their running attempts):

Jadarian Price – 21.2%
Jeremiyah Love – 19.6%
Mike Washington – 18%
Emmett Johnson – 14.3%
Kaytron Allen – 14.3%
Kaelon Black – 14%
Jonah Coleman – 12.7%
Roman Hemby – 11.3%
Nick Singleton – 9.7%
J’Mari Taylor – 9.5%

The average rate over the last decade for running backs entering the league is 16%. As you can see, only three players are ‘above average’ and many of the big name backs in this class are significantly below that mark.

How significant is this to the Seahawks? Let’s look at some of their recent picks at the position with John Schneider as GM (please note, I have no access to data for Christine Michael):

Chris Carson – 26.5%
CJ Prosise – 23.1%
Zach Charbonnet – 22.7%
Rashaad Penny — 20%
Deejay Dallas — 18.2%
Ken Walker – 17.6%
Kenny McIntosh — 15.9%
Damien Martinez — 15%
Travis Homer — 14.7%

Based on this evidence, it at least looks like something they pay attention to. Kenny McIntosh missed the average mark by 0.1% — but he was a seventh round pick. Travis Homer, a sixth round pick, and Damien Martinez, a seventh rounder, were both further off the average.

Jadarian Price not only leads the 2025 class for explosive run rate, he compares favourably to Penny, Walker and Charbonnet — all players drafted between #27-52 by Schneider.

Let’s move on to another data point — missed tackles forced rate. How good are the 2025 class at forcing people to miss?

Jadarian Price — 28.3%
Jeremiyah Love — 28.1%
Emmett Johnson — 27.1%
Kaytron Allen — 27.1%
J’Mari Taylor — 24.8%
Rashul Faison — 24%
Jonah Coleman — 23.6%
Seth McGowan — 21.1%
Noah Whittington — 20.9%
Demond Claiborne — 20.7%
Mike Washington Jr — 20.4%
Adam Randall — 19%
Jam Miller — 16.9%
Roman Hemby — 16.1%
Kaelon Black — 16.1%
Le’Veon Moss — 15.6%
Nicholas Singleton — 15.3%
Chip Trayanum — 12.6%

Again, Price comes out on top in this category. He’s also well above some of the other bigger names in this class, such as Mike Washington Jr.

Now let’s go back to the list of draft picks for the Seahawks to compare:

Chris Carson – 37.3%
Ken Walker – 33.6%
Deejay Dallas — 31.3%
Rashaad Penny — 29.7%
Kenny McIntosh — 29.1%
CJ Prosise – 27.6%
Damien Martinez — 26.3%
Zach Charbonnet – 25.8%
Travis Homer — 17.7%

Again, either it’s pure coincidence or there’s some evidence here that the Seahawks see value in this kind of data.

Consistently they are taking strong performers in missed tackle rate. Price is #1 in this category in the 2025 draft class. He has a comparable rate to Rashaad Penny and he’s ahead of Zach Charbonnet.

Finally, let’s look at yards after contact per attempt:

Jeremiyah Love – 4.50
Jadarian Price – 3.95
Mike Washington Jr – 3.86
Kaytron Allen – 3.77
Jonah Coleman – 3.58
Noah Whittington – 3.51
Le’Veon Moss – 3.47
Rashul Faison – 3.47
Kaelon Black – 3.47
J’Mari Taylor – 3.39
Roman Hemby – 3.36
Adam Randall – 3.13
Chip Trayanum – 3.08
Demon Claiborne – 3.04
Emmett Johnson – 2.95
Seth McGowan – 2.72
Nicholas Singleton – 2.69
Jam Miller – 2.45

Price is behind his team-mate Jeremiyah Love in this category, but he’s still well ahead of some of the other bigger names in the 2025 draft.

Here are the Seahawks draftees during their final college seasons:

Rashaad Penny — 4.47
Ken Walker – 4.46
Damien Martinez — 4.46
Zach Charbonnet – 4.15
Travis Homer — 4.05
Chris Carson – 4.00
Deejay Dallas — 3.54
Kenny McIntosh — 3.09
CJ Prosise – 2.83

Price’s limited carries at Notre Dame probably cost him here. A couple of extra big runs could’ve really propelled his average. However, at 3.95 it’s still ‘decent’ and second among 2025 runners — even if it’s not at the ideal rates we saw from the two highest picks on the list above, Penny and Walker.

Does any of this guarantee anything relating to the Seahawks? Of course not.

Here’s what it does tell us though:

1. If the Seahawks want to add big plays to their running game there appears to be no better candidate than Jadarian Price

2. In terms of explosive runs, missed tackles forced and yards after contact per run, he compares favourably to some of John Schneider’s previous high picks at running back

3. The alternative options to Price are limited if you want to add big plays to the running game

There’s only one final thing I will mention. There’s been at least some buzz around the Seahawks showing interest in Jonah Coleman at Washington. His 2025 numbers are not that impressive. He did suffer a PCL injury in November.

When you look at his 2024 numbers, it’s a lot more interesting:

19.8% explosive run rate
34.9% missed tackle forced rate
4.34 yards after contact per attempt

These stats, if they were for 2025, would rank him second behind Price for explosive run rate, clearly #1 for missed tackles forced rate and comfortably #2 behind Love for yards after contact per attempt.

If the Seahawks view 2024 as a better reflection of what he is as a player, they are likely to be very interested based on these numbers.

Likewise, Nicholas Singleton at Penn State was a lot more productive in 2024. Here are his stats:

18.4% explosive run rate
19% missed tackle forced rate
3.54 yards after contact per attempt