Why isn’t Kenneth Walker III playing for the Seahawks against the Cowboys?

Just an hour before kickoff, there is still nothing definitive coming out of the Seattle Seahawks locker room. But all indications are that they will clash with the Dallas Cowboys tonight without the help of running back Kenneth Walker III.

Walker has missed practice all week with an oblique injury, but even as it seems exceedingly unlikely that he will see any playing time, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll told reporters that Walker was “going to go into this game in question.” And while that certainly seems to leave the door at the very least slightly ajar for Walker to get reps, it would seem to be a vanishingly small likelihood.

Still officially listed as doubtful, it would seem more likely that Walker will miss Dallas and come back against the 49ers on December 10th. Oblique injuries are typically a week to ten days in duration and since this one seems to be something of a nagging injury that has developed over the last two weeks, the Seahawks might want to give him that extra bit of time to heal properly heading into the back end of the season.

This news means that the bulk of the work out of the Seahawks backfield will likely be done by Zach Charbonnet.