The Kansas City Chiefs signed marquee running back Kenneth Walker III in free agency, and Walker knew he'd be leaving.
The Kansas City Chiefs added a high-profile running back in free agency, and Kenneth Walker III knew his time with the Seattle Seahawks was over some time in the middle of the season, according to a report by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
The dynamic is especially interesting given how things played out, which inadvertently laid out Walker’s path to Kansas City. Running backs aren’t highly valued these days, and somehow Walker figured out that the Seahawks wouldn’t be re-signing him, either due to preliminary contract talks over the overall “vibe” Walker was getting, as Florio put it.
“I would say probably, if I’m being honest, probably like sometime during the season,” Walker said in the site’s afternoon podcast show, which is called #PFTPM. “You know, things ain’t working out how I was expecting to, and that’s all right. It worked out for the team. So sometime during the season and then we get to free agency, pretty much knowing like you weren’t gonna be there no more.”
To Walker’s credit, he kept playing, and he surprised everyone, possibly even the Seahawks, by performing brilliantly during Seattle’s postseason run. His goal was to get paid, but by doing that he also got a Super Bowl ring as part of the bargain.
Now Walker is with the Chiefs, and he got paid. He got a contract that pays him $27 million guaranteed for the first two years, according to Florio, which is huge money for a running back these days.
The message sent by the Chiefs is that they tend to use him extensively, which is good news for Walker given that’s what he says he wanted in the first place. That may not have been the case with Seattle, but we’re only getting one side of the story here.
“The team appreciates me over here and, like, being able to come somewhere there where you’re appreciated,” Walker said. “I definitely feel like I’ll be getting the ball a lot, be making plays and, yeah, I’m excited for this season.”
Adding him makes sense for Kansas City after the injury that ended quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ season. Mahomes will be less mobile whenever he takes the field, which means the Chiefs will need a real ground game. They’re a potentially elite team with a clear need, and Walker fits the bill.
The risk here is whether Walker turns out to be one of those players who underperform once they get paid. He was considered a good but not elite back going into last year, so it will be interesting to see what he becomes once part of his motivation to excel is removed.