The Seahawks sent many mixed signals this week regarding whether running back Zach Charbonnet would play on Sunday. Friday, the decision fell.
He won’t play.
Charbonnet, who suffered a torn ACL in the divisional round win over the 49ers in January, returned to practice on October 1. He was moved to the active roster this week and fully participated in practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
“Zach is going to have a full week of practice, so that’s exciting,” coach Mike Macdonald told reporters Monday. “It’s possible you could see it on Sunday to some extent, so that’s exciting.”
Speaking to reporters Friday, Macdonald’s explanation made it seem like Charbonnet not playing Sunday was planned all along.
“We are following the plan,” Macdonald said. “The plan was to have a good week of work and see where we are. We’re going to do it next week. That’s part of the plan. Zach is doing great and we’ll come back to it next week and see how it goes.”
The situation does not violate injury reporting rules, although the Seahawks arguably made it look like Charbonnet would play.
In fact, the Seahawks could have benefited from the uncertainty for two more days. Charbonnet could have been listed as questionable on Friday, with the decision announced on Sunday that he would not be an active player.
Yet this seems strange. Especially since Ian Rapoport of the ESPNFL said on Friday Pat McAfee Show that Rapoport expects Charbonnet to “play and play a lot” on Sunday night. (The clip has apparently been removed from Twitter, but it is always in the YouTube version of the episode.)
At a time when more and more fans are skeptical about the impact of gambling and prediction market influences on the flow of information (and/or misinformation), this is another tangible item for the tinfoil hat mill.
Gn sports
