Seahawks' Mike Macdonald shares painful admission about Chiefs' Kenneth Walker III

Perhaps the biggest storyline related to this coming Sunday night's game between the 5-0 Kansas City Chiefs and the 3-3 Seattle Seahawks at Seattle's Lumen Field involves Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III facing the team that let him reach free agency earlier this year. 

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald had a front-row view when Walker rushed for 135 yards on 27 carries and caught two passes for 26 yards en route to earning Most Valuable Player Award honors for Seattle's Super Bowl LX win over the New England Patriots this past February. During a Thursday appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Macdonald addressed Walker's stellar play over the ball-carrier's first five games with the Chiefs. 

Mike Macdonald not surprised Kenneth Walker III has been a star with the Chiefs

"Ken’s playing really great football," Macdonald acknowledged, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "I think it’s a combination of, you see the stats, and you’re like, man, that’s a lot of stats. And then you turn the tape on and see how they’re playing and how he’s playing, and you’re like, 'That makes sense. No one has tackled this guy yet.'"

Macdonald was referencing how, as shared by StatMuse, Walker heads into this weekend leading the NFL with 152 yards from scrimmage per game for the season. As Smith noted in a different piece, Walker is currently on pace to break league records for rushing yards and yards from scrimmage for a single campaign. 

Mike Macdonald: Kenneth Walker III is playing "at the highest level in the league right now"

A Friday story mentioned that the Seahawks didn't retain Walker's rights for 2026 via the franchise tag back in February because "the $14.3M cost was clearly prohibitive in their eyes." That same piece added that the Seahawks "were only willing to go as high as roughly $10M per season to re-sign [Walker] in March." 

Walker ultimately inked a three-year contract with the Chiefs that reportedly could be worth up to $45M.

"It’s the things we knew about Ken, that he does really well," Macdonald continued during the segment. "He’s so strong, he’s decisive, he’s got great vision. He’s also come alive in the pass game. They’re doing a great job with him. He’s playing probably at the highest level in the league right now."

Earlier this week, Walker neither confirmed nor denied that he will have revenge on his mind when he faces Seattle. One wonders what he'll have to say about the subject after Sunday's game wraps up.