Fantasy football fallout of Chris Carson’s retirement

The Seattle Seahawks will head into training camp this week without their starting running back from last season, Chris Carson. This move has been somewhat anticipated, as the news for Carson this offseason hadn’t been positive. That likely pushed the team to draft running back Ken Walker with the 41st pick to go along with Rashaad Penny.

Penny and Walker are now the no-doubt 1 and 2 backs in the backfield, but how their touches will be distributed is hard to know. The good news for Penny is that he is coming off a terrific stretch of games to finish last season, where he topped 135 rushing yards in four of the last five contests. That puts him in the driver’s seat for the moment.

Penny has never played a full season, with last year being his biggest workload in his four years, with 119 carries and six receptions. We have no way of knowing if Penny can put together a full season without missing significant time, but he hasn’t been able to do it yet.

Walker will push Penny and could pounce on any opportunity. Penny’s injury history and Walker’s young legs will likely keep his ADP in a range where Penny will need to miss time for Walker to have value.

The trouble with these two for fantasy football is the quarterback situation. Yes, the downgrade from Russell Wilson to either Drew Lock or Geno Smith will likely push the team to run a lot, but it will also hurt their offensive efficiency and scoring chances. Both Penny and Walker have fantasy value, but I’d want to grab whoever drops the furthest in drafts.