Is Kenneth Walker III Injured or Healthy? Fantasy Football Injury Update

It has been an up-and-down season for the Seattle Seahawks and many of their core offensive players, including their top tailback, Kenneth Walker III.

Walker has rushed for 827 yards and eight touchdowns in 14 games this season. He has also added 28 catches for 256 yards and a score on passing plays. Walker has proven his rookie campaign where he galloped for 1,000 yards was no fluke, but he has not been the fantasy force many thought he would be in his sophomore season. Walker has only one 100-yard-game this year and just three touchdowns over his last nine outings. This is not the slump his fantasy managers needed down the stretch.

Walker has been banged-up over the last several weeks, which is part of the reason for his declining production. With Seattle needing to win at Arizona this Sunday if they have any hope for a playoff berth, is Walker injured or healthy as the Seahawks head into that game? Here is the latest:

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Is Kenneth Walker III Injured or Healthy?

Walker has been dealing with a bum shoulder for a couple weeks now, and the injury forced him to exit early from Seattle’s Week 17 loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers, although he did make brief appearances in other spots during the course of the contest. As of now, the shoulder is still an issue because he is officially listed as questionable for this week’s season finale.

Walker only received 13 touches in Week 17, compared to 17 and 22 the two prior weeks. His lessening workload is not helping his fantasy value, but you would figure if he is anywhere near 100 percent by kickoff that he will get the bulk of the backfield touches due to his game-breaking ability.

Walker did not participate in Seattle’s Wednesday practice this week, but that has been mostly the norm the past few weeks while he has been dealing with this ongoing shoulder ailment. He has been able to play through the injury the past three weeks and has not appeared limited while running. It seems that aggravating the injury was the reason he missed chunks of last week’s contest.

Walker’s running mate, Zach Charbonnet, has not played well enough to overtake Walker on the depth chart, so if Walker is able to strap on a helmet and shoulder pads this Sunday he should Seattle’s starting running back.

If you roster Walker and need him to supply 75-90 yards and a TD this weekend to help you win your league, I would keep my fingers crossed that he is able to make it on the field. Monitor his progress from now up until kickoff on Sunday afternoon. If Walker does suit up he should be able to rack up rushing yards since Arizona is last in the league in run defense.

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