The Kansas City Chiefs are utilizing Kenneth Walker III in ways he simply didn’t operate all that often as a member of the Seattle Seahawks, and the running back is both grateful for the opportunities and throwing a little shade at his old team for not fully recognizing the breadth of his talent and potential to contribute.
Walker spoke specifically about the work he has gotten as a member of the Chiefs’ passing attack during the first three weeks of the year.
“I could always catch the ball, coming out of high school and everything, I just didn’t really have opportunities to catch the ball,” Walker said on Thursday, October 1. “Coach [Andy] Reid sees that I could catch and make plays in space. Credit to coach Reid.”
Chiefs Have Increased Kenneth Walker III’s Workload Significantly Since He Arrived in Kansas City
No, Walker did not line up the Seahawks coaching staff directly in his sites, but it was a proverbial shots fired moment nevertheless.
Seattle is the only NFL team for which Walker ever played before joining Kansas City to begin the fifth season of his career. And the former frustration veiled ever so thinly in Walker’s comments on Thursday are indicative of why he left a good situation immediately after winning Super Bowl MVP for a chance to play under Reid and alongside quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Walker tallied more than 37 targets just once across his four years in Seattle (53 targets in 2024). He already has 18 looks from Mahomes in the pass game through the first three weeks.
The running back also never scored more than one touchdown through the air in any season with the Seahawks. He has two and counting in Kansas City with 14 contests yet to play.
Chiefs RB Kenneth Walker III on Track to Blow Past Career-High Numbers in Seattle
Walker split work in Seattle, which kept his overall production down. He crept just past 1,000 yards rushing in 2022 and 2025, while finishing with just over 900 rushing yards in 2023. The RB missed six games two years back due to injuries, which skewed his 2024 production.
But through Week 3, Walker is leading the league in total rushing yards (360) and rushing yards per game (120). He also has four total TDs. At his current rate, Walker will eclipse 2,000 yards rushing and score 22 or 23 combined TDs in 2026.
In fairness, Walker’s usage rate is likely to come down as the weeks progress, which Reid has already noted publicly.
Walker is in just his age-26 campaign and inked a three-year contract with the Chiefs this offseason, but they don’t want to over-utilize their new not-so-secret weapon and banish themselves back to the hapless run game that plagued the team over the past few seasons.
Emmett Johnson is a fifth-round rookie out of Nebraska who has showed both some pop and promise during his limited work in the Chiefs offense through September.
Johnson is likely to get a larger workload as time passes in the interest of keeping Walker healthy and fresh, as the Chiefs hope their new RB can have the same kind of postseason for them this year as he did for the Seahawks during the last playoffs.
But even with some cuts to his carries, and perhaps to a lesser degree his targets, Walker should remain happy and productive in Kansas City moving forward. And that is good news for pretty much everyone except, of course, the Seahawks.
Chiefs’ Kenneth Walker III Calls Out Seahawks After Huge Start to Season