The Seahawks sent a lot of mixed signals this week about whether running back Zach Charbonnet would play Sunday. The decision came on Friday.
He won’t play.
Charbonnet, who suffered a torn ACL in the divisional round win over the 49ers in January, returned to practice on Oct. 1. He was moved to the active roster this week and participated fully in practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
“Zach is going to have a full week of reps, so that’s exciting,” coach Mike Macdonald told reporters Monday. “There’s a chance you could see him on Sunday in some capacity, so that’s exciting.”
Speaking to reporters Friday, Macdonald’s explanation gave the impression that Charbonnet not playing Sunday was the plan all along.
“We’re going with the plan,” Macdonald said. “The plan was to do a good week and see where we’re at. We’ll take it next week. It’s part of the plan. Zach is doing well and we’ll go next week and see how it goes.”
The situation does not violate injury reporting rules, even if the Seahawks would undoubtedly create the impression that Charbonnet would play.
In fact, the Seahawks could have milked the uncertainty for two more days. Charbonnet could have been listed as questionable on Friday, with the decision announced Sunday that he will not be among the active players.
Still, it feels weird. Especially as ESPNFL’s Ian Rapoport said Friday The Pat McAfee Show that Rapoport expects Charbonnet to “play and play hard” Sunday night. (The clip has apparently been deleted from Twitter, but it is still in YouTube version of the episode.)
At a time when more and more fans are skeptical about the influence of gambling and the effects of market predictions on the flow of information (and/or misinformation), this is another tangible nugget for the tinfoil hat factory.
