Week 11 was not a fun watch for Seattle Seahawks fans. It might not have even been fun for Los Angeles Rams fans. Maybe LA defeated Seattle 21-19, but the contest was tense and inconsistent, and everything sports should be. Seattle even had a last-second chance to win.
Of course, that chance was a 61-yard field goal attempt that is an excusable miss for kicker Jason Myers, whose made field goals earlier in the game were the reason the Seahawks were so close at the end anyway. Myers is good at what he does and shouldn't be blamed for the loss.
So is running back Kenneth Walker III. Many fans and national pundits have thought that the team's RB1 role should have gone to Zach Charbonnet. The thinking was that Charbonnet was the best fit in offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak's scheme with his powerful running and ability to pick up first downs.
Kenneth Walker III is proving to the Seattle Seahawks that he needs to stick around
Plus, Walker had seen his yards per rush go down by nearly half a yard since his 2022 rookie season. He also got hurt too much and couldn't be counted on to show up every week. That was all true, but it doesn't seem to be the case in 2025.
Walker is a free agent next offseason, but he is giving the Seahawks a lot of reasons to re-sign him. First of all, running backs are not overly expensive in the current NFL climate, so re-signing Walker wouldn't cost nearly as much as an edge rusher or top receiver.
Plus, does anyone want to see a Kubiak offense that doesn't have Walker in it in the future? Charbonnet and RB3 George Holani are good players, too, but there is a reason Kubiak and head coach Mike Macdonald trust Walker to get the majority of the workload.
Through 10 games, Walker is trending toward finishing the season with 1,030 rushing yards (his second season over 1,000 yards) and almost 220 yards receiving. That would give him the highest amount of total yards he has had in his four years in the league. He is also averaging 4.5 yards per carry, slightly under his best career mark of 4.6 as a rookie.
Against the Rams in Week 11, Walker ran for 67 yards on 16 carries, scored a touchdown, and had another 44 yards receiving on just three catches. His 111 total yards led all players not named Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the game. He ran fast, he was strong at times, and he was obviously the kind of back a team should have as their starter.
According to Spotrac, Kenneth Walker's market value next offseason is an average of $8.9 million a season over a new four-year contract. If that is the truth, then the Seattle Seahawks have no excuse but to re-sign him. He would make sure the running back group is one thing the team doesn't need to worry about.