Chiefs’ Kenneth Walker Gets Career News Nobody Saw Coming

Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III returns to Seattle this weekend as one of the NFL’s top performers, just days after new details emerged about why his former team let him leave.

Walker leads the league with 665 rushing yards through five games, averaging 6.3 yards per carry and scoring six touchdowns on the ground. He has added two receiving scores for eight total touchdowns and 760 yards from scrimmage, putting him on pace for more than 2,200 rushing yards over a full season.

The undefeated Chiefs, one of three remaining unbeaten teams, signed Walker to a three-year, $43 million contract in March after he helped the Seahawks win Super Bowl LX and earned MVP honors in the process.

That deal marked a major jump from the four-year, $8.4 million rookie contract he signed after Seattle drafted him in the second round in 2022.

Reports indicate the Seahawks never made Walker a formal offer during free agency, even as his strong postseason run drove his market value higher. League sources told The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar that Seattle did not engage in serious talks about bringing him back.

“There were no serious discussions — on that day (during the Seahawks’ championship parade) or any other — about Walker returning to the team that used a second-round draft pick on him in 2022,” Dugar wrote.

“Walker’s postseason performance put him in such high demand that he effectively priced himself out of Seattle, which didn’t make a contract offer ahead of free agency, according to league sources not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.”

The Chiefs, by contrast, moved quickly to add him as a featured back.

“It might not have mattered, anyway. The Kansas City Chiefs, as it turns out, were very serious about Walker, making him one of the league’s highest-paid running backs with a three-year, $43 million contract,” Dugar wrote.

Walker has thrived in Kansas City’s scheme, receiving a heavier workload than he often saw in Seattle last season. He has topped 100 rushing yards in four of his five games and posted 128 yards and two scores in the Chiefs’ most recent win over the Chargers.

ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky has gone further, calling Walker the league’s most valuable player so far.

“Kenneth Walker is the MVP of the NFL right now,” Orlovsky said. “If MVP voting was happening today I would vote for Kenneth Walker.”

Seattle has struggled to replace that production in the backfield while trying to keep its championship core intact. Walker, now 26, has given the Chiefs a consistent ground threat alongside quarterback Patrick Mahomes as they prepare for Sunday night’s matchup at Lumen Field.