Kenneth Walker III won a Super Bowl MVP in Seattle and then left for Kansas City on the richest deal a free-agent back has ever signed, and the Seahawks didn't backfill that job with a committee. They spent the final pick of the first round on Price and started running the offense through him in camp like the competition was already over. That's not a coaching staff hedging a rookie into a timeshare. That's a franchise that watched its best back walk out the door and decided the guy behind him was the plan.
Price spent most of his college career playing behind Jeremiyah Love at Notre Dame, and it still wasn't enough to hide what he does with the ball in his hands. He runs downhill and finishes through contact, the kind of style beat writers in Seattle are already comparing to a healthier Rashaad Penny mixed with Chris Carson, which is a specific and physical comparison for a rookie who barely started in college. What separates him from the standard power back is that Seattle isn't treating him as a two-down grinder. Camp reports have him already trusted in pass protection and comfortable catching the ball out of the backfield, which is usually the last box a rookie running back checks before a coaching staff lets him play on third down.
The honest hole in the profile is volume. Price never had to carry a full season as the guy at Notre Dame because Love was in front of him, so nobody has actually seen him hold up on 20-plus touches a week over four months. Seattle also didn't clear its running back room entirely — the same front office that gave Price the job also has a proven early-down and short-yardage option in that room once he's healthy, which caps how much of the goal-line work is guaranteed to stay with the rookie even if the early-down job is his.
The name worth measuring him against is Harvey in Denver, another first-round rookie who inherited a backfield after his team moved on from the incumbent. Harvey is stepping into a room where he's still splitting early-down work with a returning veteran committee back. Price isn't. Seattle cleared its backfield all the way out and put the rookie at the top of it with no returning starter standing in the way once camp settled. That's the difference worth paying for — Harvey has to win touches every week, Price just has to keep them.
