Seahawks' Zach Charbonnet: Starting role awaits Thursday

Charbonnet is in line to serve as Seattle's lead back Thursday against San Francisco with Kenneth Walker (oblique) listed as doubtful for the Week 12 contest and not expected to play, Brady Henderson of ESPN.com reports.

Though Walker is on track to miss his first game of the season, the Seahawks already got an extended glimpse of Charbonnet in a leading role when Walker played just seven snaps in this past Sunday's loss to the Rams before going down with an oblique strain. Charbonnet dominated the work in the backfield following Walker's departure, finishing the day with 15 carries for 47 yards to go with six catches for 22 yards on six targets. Seattle will have DeeJay Dallas and Kenny McIntosh around as additional depth out of the backfield, but the former profiles as more of a third-down/pass-catching specialist, while the latter is a rookie seventh-round pick who has yet to make his NFL debut. With that in mind, Charbonnet could be poised for one of the heavier snap counts and workloads among all running backs Week 12, though a relatively difficult matchup against a San Francisco defense that has allowed 4.0 yards per carry and five rushing touchdowns this season may lower his overall ceiling a bit.