The Seahawks sent mixed signals during the week before ultimately deciding that running back Zach Charbonnet would not play on Sunday. The decision came on Friday.
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 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Coach Mike Macdonald told reporters on Monday that there was a possibility the team could see Charbonnet on Sunday in some capacity.
But when speaking to reporters on Friday, Macdonald said the team was following its plan. The plan, he said, was to give Charbonnet a full week of reps and see how he was doing. The team would then consider what came next, Macdonald added, while saying Charbonnet was doing well.
Macdonald said the team was “going along with the plan.” The plan was to get a full week’s worth of work and see where the team was at, he said. The team would take it into the next week and see how it goes. Charbonnet, he added, was doing great.
The situation did not violate injury-reporting rules, even if the Seahawks arguably created the impression that Charbonnet would play. In fact, the team could have allowed the uncertainty to continue for two more days. Charbonnet could have been listed as questionable on Friday, with the decision announced on Sunday that he would not be among the active players.
Still, it felt odd. Ian Rapoport reportedly said on Friday’s Pat McAfee Show that he expected Charbonnet to “play and play a lot” on Sunday night. The clip apparently was removed from Twitter, but it was still in the YouTube version of the episode.
At a time when more fans are skeptical of the impact of gambling and prediction-market influences on the flow of information, or of misinformation, this is another tangible piece of context for those watching closely.