Most rookies come into the NFL with fantasy football question marks, but few carry first-round draft capital after being second fiddle in his collegiate backfield while totalling under 300 touches across three seasons.
Enter Jadarian Price, Jeremiah Love’s backup at Notre Dame and now, potentially, the lead man of the Super Bowl champions. This is an interesting profile to consider, and while Katz has history on his side, I think the other side of the argument is where I’ll land this summer.
Why Jadarian Price’s Sixth-Round ADP Is More Than Fair
Rookie running backs almost never inherit a clean shot at 15-plus touches from Week 1, but Price very well could. Kenneth Walker III left for Kansas City in free agency, and Zach Charbonnet is coming off a torn ACL suffered in the playoffs, with a recovery window that could limit him from the hop.
Seattle spent its first-round pick, No. 32 overall, on Price specifically to replace Walker’s workload, not as a Robin to Charbonnet’s Batman. That would have been my belief even if the incumbent didn’t get hurt, but it certainly is in the circumstances that are staring us in the face.
Skeptics point to George Holani’s strong offseason praise as a reason to fade Price, and that competition is real. But drafting a rookie back in Round 6 is never a bet that he arrives fully formed. It’s a bet that the touches are there for him to grow into the role early, the way Kenneth Walker did as a rookie himself.
Walker’s three-game playoff run saw him put up 417 combined scrimmage yards and score four times. Those are obviously outstanding numbers, but it is worth noting that Walker hasn’t been a top-20 back per our grading in consecutive seasons and three of four.
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That’s not to say that Walker isn’t talented, but it is to say that if a player who grades out around average can go on a run like that, who is to say that a RB that clearly caught Seattle’s eye can’t do something similar in rather short order?
The offensive line may not be elite, but it’s certainly trending in the right direction per our Offensive Line Impact grading system, and that’s really all we can ask for. Growth like this is common to see before a backfield explodes, and gambling on the unknown quantity, at cost, is plenty reasonable in my eyes.
Charbonnet’s Recovery Timeline Is the Whole Fantasy Case
Charbonnet has handled around 11.5 touches per game across the last two seasons in Seattle, splitting work first with Walker. If he returns to anything close to that role once healthy, there’s still room for Price to justify a sixth-round price tag without needing bell-cow volume. Nobody’s asking Price to play 90% of the snaps or be Derrick Henry.
At this cost, the plus side of a committee isn’t a bad worst-case scenario, especially when you factor in the potential for him to impress in September and thus earn himself 15-20 touches per game moving forward, regardless of what Charbonnet does.
Look at who else gets drafted in that range: backs with genuinely murky roles like Bhayshul Tuten and TreVeyon Henderson, and older receivers such as Mike Evans and Davante Adams who are past their statistical peaks and thus open to more downside than upside.
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Price has a clear runway to touches if Charbonnet’s ACL recovery slips into the season, and that potential alone is enough for me to be interested at this cost, a range that I think is currently pretty soft.
There’s a scheduling wrinkle worth noting, too. When your league championship is on the line in Week 17, the Seahawks, on extended rest after playing on a Friday the week before, get the Panthers. That’s a golden opportunity, and it is also valuable that their second game against the fearsome Rams comes in Week 18, a week after most leagues conclude.
Price isn’t a must-have player. But at his current ADP, fading him because a fellow rookie shared his college backfield with a more explosive teammate misreads what a sixth-round pick is actually supposed to be.
