George Holani Camp Update — August 16: Last Healthy Back, Job Still Unclaimed

By Wednesday, George Holani was one of the last healthy running backs Seattle had. Zach Charbonnet is still on the physically-unable-to-perform list, Emanuel Wilson left Tuesday's practice with a leg injury, Jacardia Wright is out, and rookie Jadarian Price was just easing back from soreness — Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times counted the healthy bodies as Holani, Velus Jones Jr., Justin Jones, and an undrafted rookie. The June episode said Holani's value was purely a function of the depth chart above him. The depth chart above him keeps disappearing.

The June argument, restated: 22 carries last year say nothing, in either direction — the production case was never the case. The case was that a defending champion lost its top two backs in one offseason, the staff already trusted Holani on special teams and in spring first-team reps, and the fewer healthy backs standing in front of him in September, the more real early-down work falls to him. That thesis is doing better than we imagined in June.

What Holani did with it this week is the complication. On August 10, John Boyle of seahawks.com described Derick Hall knocking him backward in contact drills — a rep that goes in the other side's highlight file. And in Saturday's preseason opener, a game the backups played almost entirely, no Seattle back distinguished himself in the accessed reports: Dallas won 17 to seven, held Seattle to a hundred 56 total yards, and stopped them at the goal line once and on downs twice in the red zone. That was the audition the thinned room handed him, and nobody took it. Meanwhile Price returned to first-team work Wednesday, which is the staff telling you who the lead back is when everyone is healthy.

Does the June read hold? COMPLICATED — the opportunity half of the thesis has grown all summer, but the seizing half produced a rough contact-drill rep and an anonymous night in a stalled offense. Openings this good don't stay open past cutdown. Next week: Holani's carries and yards in the second preseason game, and whether Price's ramp to full contact starts closing the door. We'll check next Sunday.

_Data via nflverse._