Kenneth Walker III had a fine career overall with the Seattle Seahawks, but his final season's success might overshadow the issues he had in the two previous years. The running back certainly has talent and explosiveness, but to hear Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes tell it, Walker is an elite football player.
Walker signed with the Chiefs in free agency this past offseason for three years and as much as $45 million. $28.7 million of that was guaranteed. That was too rich for Seattle general manager John Schneider, who might have wanted to keep Walker but not for almost $12 million a season.
If Schneider had talked to Mahomes before free agency, though, maybe the GM would have changed his mind. The quarterback definitely knows how to sell Walker to the masses.
Kansas City Chiefs offers elite praise for former Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker
Speaking with Yahoo Sports recently, Mahomes said of his new teammate, "He's one of the best football players I've ever been around, and I just say that from watching practices and what he does. He's a great leader on and off the field, too...He's a great football player. He learns fast. He helps out the guys around him, and I'm sure he'll make everybody else's job a lot easier."
In Seattle, Walker wasn't disruptive in the locker room, but he wasn't a strong leader. He was quieter than communicative, and that's perfectly fine. Not every player on each team needs to be a leader because some need to follow. In other words, Walker wasn't the same kind of person in the locker room that linebacker Ernest Jones Jr. is.
The running back is quite capable of excellence and of leading the offense on the field, though. Seattle Seahawks fans witnessed that last season, especially after Zach Charbonnet was injured early in the playoffs and Walker had to carry a heavier load. He proved he could do so.
But Patrick Mahomes has won three Super Bowls and has clearly been around many elite players. Kenneth Walker is good, but surely not one of the better players that the quarterback has played with. Not yet, anyway. The Chiefs should have a few concerns about the running back.
One is Walker's availability for each game. He didn't miss any in 2025, but that was the first season in his career that he participated in each game. In his first two seasons, he missed two games each. In his third year, he missed six. That same season, his yards per carry slipped to 3.7.
Was Kenneth Walker motivated by making a lot of money in any future deal by having a good 2025? Maybe, and if he was, no one should blame him. He plays football to try to get paid as much as possible.
One might wonder how successful he will be over his three-year deal with the Chiefs, though. Will he revert to hesitating before he attacks the line of scrimmage, something that former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak appeared to coach out of him last season, for instance? Can Walker stay healthy?
No matter what happens, many Seattle fans probably wish Walker well. He was a good guy on the team, and he helped the team win a Super Bowl. Ultimately, that's how the running back will be remembered during his time with the Seahawks.
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