Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III has been a star so far, here's what he does to stand out.
The signing of running back Kenneth Walker III has been a resounding success so far for the Kansas City Chiefs, and he was just named AFC Player of the Month. Jesse Newell of The Athletic did a deeper dive into Walker’s performance so far, and he came up with some interesting data and talking points.
Start with his elusiveness, which isn’t what Walker is typically known for. He’s considered a brute who succeeds by running people over and breaking tackles, but Walker leads the league by forcing missed taackles, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats. To offer another angle on this, no other running back has forced more than ten missed tackles, who has 12 or more in each of his three games so far, per Newell.
Running back Brashard Smith pointed to Walker’s side stepping ability as one key to his ability to do this, which makes sense if you watch some of the jump cuts Walker is able to pull off. But Smith added that Walker does extra stretching and has embraced yoga to prepare for game days, which certainly isn’t something that aligns with Walker’s formidable reputation for yardage after contact.
As for Walker himself, he says he tries to approach would-be tacklers with a low center of gravity, which is a time-honored approach among successful backs. He gets low and attacks, which helps him break tackles and cause opponents to miss in space.
The overall takeaway here is that if a defender is approaching Walker to make a tackle, there’s more than a 50-50 chance that it won’t happen.
Another stat Newell used is rush yards over expected, which can be a somewhat dodgy number that can be hit and miss. (Just like Walker!) He’s averaged 5.5 yards per carry even though Next Gen Stats has him at an “expected” 3.6 yards per carry, with the metric designed to predict the gain on a given play based on Walker’s location and the blockers in front of him.
The translation is that Walker hasn’t gotten as much help from his offensive line as he should have. He’s been getting extra yardage on his own, which makes sense given some of the injury issues that have plagued the line early, although rookie left tackle Kahlil Benson was just named AFC Offensive Rookie of the Month.
Finally, there’s Walker’s awareness and vision. It’s elite, and his ability to know when to bounce outside vs. creating an interior running lane on his own is a big part of the package as well.
