Kenneth Walker III made the right decision in 2026 NFL free agency, cashing in on his status as Super Bowl 60 MVP for the Seattle Seahawks to agree on a 3-year, $43 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. No one could imagine just how valuable that signing would be through six weeks of the regular season.
Walker, despite playing only five games with the 5-0 Chiefs having a bye in Week 5, leads the NFL with 665 rushing yards. He is also No. 1 in average yards per carry (6.3) and average yards per game (133). He has six rushing touchdowns, scoring twice in both the recent AFC West wins over the Raiders and Chargers.
Walker is getting limited NFL MVP buzz as a running back, but he's the easy odds-on favorite to win Offensive Player of the Year. His 17-game pace is set at 2,261 rushing yards and 20 rushing TDs.
With those 665 yards, Walker has more rushing yards than the Seahawks as a whole (643) over six games. Seattle will get plenty of reminders of that firsthand when it hosts Kansas City in Week 7's big Sunday night game (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock).
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The Seahawks did their best to keep Walker before he walked for a better price. It was evident they regretted that decision when they used a surprise late first-round draft pick on replacement rookie running back Jadarian Price.
Seattle has missed Walker plenty, but Kansas City is also getting a lot more out of him while paying him workhorse money. Here's breaking down how the Seahawks' big personnel loss was a monumental addition for the Chiefs.
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Kenneth Walker III has made the Chiefs' rushing attack a lot more productive than the Seahawks'
| Rushing offense | 2025 ranking | 2026 ranking |
| Chiefs | No. 25 (105.6 yards per game) | No. 2 (159.2 yards per game) |
| Seahawks | No. 11 (123.3 yards per game) | No. 18 (107.2 yards per game) |
Let's start with the basics. Kansas City has done a 180 with the running game with Walker, going from one of the league's worst rushing attacks to second-best. That's a dramatic change, taking a lot of pressure off Patrick Mahomes and better facilitating the downfield passing game.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks aren't quite as productive as last season with Walker as they battle injuries this season. Unfortunately, Price played only three games before landing on injured reserve with a chest ailment. Veteran Zach Charbonnet has needed extra time to return from his major knee injury from the playoffs, with a chance to debut in Week 7.
There have been some productive flashes from Emanuel Wilson, the former Packers' top backup to Josh Jacobs, but the consistency isn't there. Overall, without Walker and with no Charbonnet, the Seahawks have seen a notable drop-off. That's led to Seattle's impatience with the running game and less balance, putting too much on quarterback Sam Darnold. He relies too much on passing to superstar wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Despite former 49ers running back coach Brian Fleury replacing Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator, the Seahawks have been forced to pass at an uncomfortable frequency, much to their detriment.
Kenneth Walker III has given the Chiefs the Seahawks' former winning identity
| Rushing play percentage | 2025 ranking | 2026 ranking |
| Chiefs | No. 27 (40.5%) | No. 9 (46.9%) |
| Seahawks | No. 3 (49. 7%) | No. 14 (43.5%) |
The Chiefs were almost a 60 percent passing team last season, while the Seahawks were around a 50-50 balance. Kansas City has done well with returning offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, a former running back, to commit more to the run in a roughly 53-47 attack.
The Seahawks' shift to a near 56-44 passing split in their play-calling hasn't worked well. They have become less efficient and less explosive, given how much they rely on big plays off play-action passing.
In 2025, the Seahawks got 36.2 percent of their total passing yards off play-action. This year, that's increased to 37.9 percent. Darnold averaged 11.3 yards per play-action attempt last year, but that's dropped to 8.55 yards per play-action attempt. Seattle has become a far less dangerous downfield passing team.
The Chiefs, in stark contrast, had a league-low 396 play-action passing yards last season, accounting for only 10.8 percent of their total passing yards. This season, in five games, the Chiefs already have 425 play-action passing yards, accounting for 33.4 percent of their total passing yards. Mahomes is going in the opposite direction of Darnold. He averaged only 8 yards per play-action pass attempt in 2025, but that number has increased to 9.65 in 2026.
Leave it to Kansas City, a three-time Super Bowl champion with Mahomes at quarterback, to even "copycat" the latest team that won the Super Bowl.
Kenneth Walker III fits better in the Chiefs' offense than he did with the Seahawks
| Rushing yards per carry | 2025 ranking | 2026 ranking |
| Chiefs | No. 20 (4.2 YPC) | No. 1 (5.5 YPC) |
| Seahawks | No. 25 (4.1 YPC) | No. 18 (3.9 YPC) |
The Chiefs have gone from an average rushing team to a dominant team getting a lot of chunk runs thanks to Walker's robust 6.3 yards per carry average. The Seahawks were balanced and committed to the run, but the average production wasn't impressive in 2025. Despite the higher league-wide ranking, Seattle is downright among the worst this season.
Kansas City's clear offensive line strength is run blocking. Walker's between-the-tackles running style plays well into the Chiefs' two elite interior linemen, center Creed Humphrey and right guard Trey Smith. Humphrey and Smith are much better than what the Seahawks had at those positions.
The bonus for 2026 is rookie left tackle Kahlil Benson. At 6-6, 315 pounds, there were some concerns about his pass protection that made him go undrafted, despite playing in front of No. 1 overall draft pick QB Fernando Mendoza for national champion Indiana.
Benson, however, has leaned into being a road-grader in the running game. He's been huge in helping Walker burst well to the outside to match what he's done inside when following the blocks of Humphrey and Smith. Walker's combination of power and explosiveness has meshed better with the Chiefs' front than they did in Seattle.
Kenneth Walker III has helped the Chiefs be a better big-play team than the Seahawks
| Big rushing plays (20-yard plus runs) | 2025 total | 2026 total |
| Chiefs | 1 | 7 |
| Seahawks | 15 | 1 |
The Chiefs are getting better big-play results from Mahomes with more effective use of play-action working off Walker. Overall, Mahomes has gone from 7.1 yards per attempt to 8.3, more in line with the best passing seasons of his career.
It turns out the Chiefs are also getting a lot more big plays from the running game, thanks to Walker. They're on pace to get 23 runs of 20 yards or more this season, after Kareem Hunt gave them only one last season.
The Seahawks had 15 total between Walker and Charbonnet last season. The Chiefs are also beating the Seahawks at their own game with Walker's home-run ability.
Kenneth Walker III is seeing his potential realized with the Chiefs after not being used enough by the Seahawks
| Pro vs. college stats | Carries per game | Yards per carry | Yards per game |
| Chiefs, 2026 | 21 | 6.3 | 133.0 |
| Michigan State, 2021 | 22 | 6.2 | 136.3 |
The Seahawks limited Walker to an average of 13 rushing attempts per game last season. Over his four seasons overall in Seattle, he averaged 14 rushing attempts per game. The knocks on Walker, including early durability issues, were his passing-game weaknesses as a blocker and receiver.
Charbonnet saw much work in those capacities when sharing the backfield with Walker. Walker, however, has proved that he can handle being on the field for three downs. In Super Bowl 60, with Charbonnet injured, Walker showed he had no problem handling 27 carries and adding a couple of impactful receptions.
The Chiefs, in addition to noticing that single-game production, couldn't ignore what Walker did in his final explosive college season with Michigan State. It's uncanny how much his average workload and production match what he's doing five years later in the NFL.
Between what Walker meant to the Seahawks and what elements were there to thrive even more elsewhere, the Chiefs pulled off the rare perfect free-agent move.
