Zach Charbonnet, the Seattle Seahawks running back, recently left a playoff game with a knee injury after taking a big hit against the San Francisco 49ers.

What happened in the game?

  • During the NFC Divisional Round on January 17, 2026, Charbonnet was injured on a run late in the second quarter when he took a hard shot from 49ers linebacker Dee Winters (and was also hit in the play by Eric Kendricks).
  • He stayed down on the field and was then evaluated by medical staff, who sent him to the blue medical tent and then to the locker room.
  • At the time he exited, he had 5 carries for about 20 rushing yards and had been an important part of Seattleā€™s run-heavy game plan.

Nature of the injury

  • Initial sideline reports indicated concern about a possible head injury because of the helmet-to-helmet contact, but further evaluation showed the main issue was his left knee, which he appeared to tweak while planting his leg on the hit.
  • The Seahawks officially listed him as ā€œquestionable to returnā€ with a knee injury during the game, and some reports suggested it was likely he would miss at least the rest of that matchup.

What it means right now

  • This comes after a strong season for Charbonnet, where he scored multiple touchdowns and helped power Seattleā€™s ground attack heading into the playoffs.
  • For the rest of that 49ers game, Seattle leaned more heavily on Kenneth Walker III and other backs to carry the rushing load.

At the moment, public updates stop at him being ruled questionable and undergoing further evaluation on his knee, so detailed long-term prognosis has not yet been released.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.