Kenneth Walker is set to be a free agent this offseason, and a former Seattle running back thinks the franchise has to keep No. 9.
The Seattle Seahawks are in Super Bowl mode as Mike Macdonald's team is set to face the New England Patriots in the NFL's penultimate game.
But quickly after that, attention will turn to the offseason, and the big-ticket item is running back Kenneth Walker.
Set to be a free agent after posting his second 1,000-yard rushing season in four years, the Seahawks have a big decision to make.
If he were to hit the open market, particularly as a Super Bowl champion, the list for Kenneth's services will be quite long.
Walker has proved to be everything the Seahawks need at running back, and even without the safety net of Zach Charbonnet, Kenneth has steamrolled teams in the postseason.
If he can do it again against New England, his impending new contract could be eye-watering.
And for former Seattle Seahawks running back and MVP winner, Shaun Alexander, who was a guest on the Up & Adams Show, Walker's importance means he has to stick around.
“I think he’s big,” Alexander said. “I think, just like anything, the business is the business. But I think he’s the guy that, if we had to, and which we are going to have to, to win the Super Bowl, is ride him and only him, he’ll put up the 100 yards, the two touchdowns, and win us a Super Bowl."
Once Charbonnet went down with his ACL injury, attention turned to Walker and his ability to be the lead back.
He had Charbonnet to give him a rest between snaps in the regular-season. But against the Los Angeles Rams, he didn't, and Walker was still the straw that stirred the offense's drink early as he set the tone.
And for Alexander, he sees similarities with Walker and his own situation when he went to the Super Bowl in 2005, a game Seattle would lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-10.
“He’s actually in the same situation I was when I went to the Super Bowl, where the money is on the line, and then he’s going to come through," Alexander added. "So he gets one more win than I had, and it’s going to be awesome.”
You could make the case that Walker is pricing himself out of a Seattle stay, and if he plays a starring role in a Super Bowl win, the Seahawks might not be able to keep him.
But if Alexander had his way, Kenneth would be a Seahawk for a long time.