The Seattle Seahawks made minor adjustments to their roster on Wednesday, signing running back Velus Jones Jr. from the practice squad and releasing wide receiver Irv Charles. Seattle re-signed Charles to the practice squad afterward.
It was mostly just small roster manipulation, as the move comes one day after activating Charles from injured reserve, releasing Jones and re-signing him to the practice squad. Those players have now swapped places, as the Seahawks had to initially activate Charles to the active roster.
Jones has been on the 53-man roster but has only played two offensive snaps in his four appearances this season. Will he play a bigger role in Week 6?
Give Jones a chance
Despite being active for four games, Jones has mostly been a contributor on special teams. He's played 61 snaps in that phase, which is 49% of the team's total special teams snaps.
The Seahawks aren't getting Zach Charbonnet back this week, and Jadarian Price is also still on injured reserve. That leaves them with the same stable of Emanuel Wilson, George Holani and Jones. Holani and Wilson have a combined four fumbles between the two of them, and two of them resulted in turnovers.
Seattle needs a spark at running back. Jones might not be the top option to provide that, but he's the third rusher for a reason. If the Seahawks are going to keep him on the roster, not sign anyone else, and the rest of their backs are struggling, it only makes sense to use all their depth.
Charbonnet will hopefully return in Week 7, but Seattle still has to get through a tough matchup against the Denver Broncos on Thursday night. A loss would give the San Francisco 49ers an even bigger lead in the NFC West standings, and that could be tough to battle back from if they don't get back on track.
At full strength, Charbonnet and Price should be the Seahawks' top two running backs. They don't have either, so Jones could be a change of pace that helps them get a win. He's a speedy runner who has returned kicks for the team this season, providing open-field upside.
It can't get much worse in the backfield. Offensive coordinator Brian Fleury has nothing to lose by giving Jones a few carries and seeing how he performs.
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