The Kansas City Chiefs have gotten big production from Kenneth Walker III, and he just got recognized for it.
The Kansas City Chiefs signed running back Kenneth Walker to help balance their offense and juice up their attack, and so far they have to be happy with the results based on Walker being named AFC Offensive Player of the Month, according to a report from Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk that was echoed by multiple other outlets.
Walker leads the league with 360 yards rushing through three weeks. He’s also totaled 442 yards from scrimmage with four total touchdowns, two rushing and two receiving. Per Simmons, Walker became the first player in league history with a rushing and receiving touchdown in two of his first three games with a team.
There’s also some history being made here. According to the league notes that came out with the announcement of the award, Walker is also the fifth player ever with at least 175 yards from scrimmage in each of his first two games with a season, joining Jim Brown (1963), O.J. Simpson (1975), Paul Hofer (1980), and Billy Sims (1980). That’s some exclusive company, but that’s the level Walker is playing at right now.
More importantly, it’s also resulted in the Chiefs being 3-0 after a disastrous 6-11 season last year. Kansas City trounced the Denver Broncos behind Walker on the ground in Week 1, and the Chiefs turned right around and featured him as a receiver in beating the Indianapolis Colts the following week.
There was some slippage against the Miami Dolphins last week, although the Chiefs did post a 24-10 win. Walker was effective with 70 yards on on 18 carries, but he was also stoned a couple of times in short yardage situations as the Dolphins defense clearly knew what was coming when that happened.
It will be hard to keep Walker playing at this level, and the Chiefs aren’t even sure they want to do that. They’ve been mixing in rookie running back Emmett Johnson to spell Walker now and then, but Walker has become so essential to the Chiefs offense that it’s hard to remove him due to his ongoing effectiveness.
The Las Vegas Raiders will know Walker is coming when the Chiefs visit the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, and that will be the latest test of Walker’s effectiveness. Both teams are coming in undefeated, and this has suddenly become a big game in the AFC West despite expectations at the start of the season that it would be a one-sided blowout.
