The Seattle Seahawks had to make tough decisions this offseason, allowing several key players from their Super Bowl LX-winning team to leave for greener pastures. One player who decided to take his career elsewhere was Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III.
Walker and the Kansas City Chiefs agreed to a three-year deal worth $43.05 million, including $28.7 million fully guaranteed, ESPN reported. Moreover, the move to the AFC West team will allow for Walker to be their undisputed RB1.
With the former Seahawks running back now with a new team, former Seattle star Shaun Alexander shared his thoughts on seeing Walker leave the Pacific Northwest this offseason.
“It’s really weird,” Alexander told Kay Adams during an appearance on the May 27 edition of “Up & Adams.” “When I played in my Super Bowl, my contract was up, we lost, and I feel like it fueled like, ‘Let’s go get it back, let’s go run it back.‘
“And then sometimes when you win, it works the opposite effect. It’s like, oh, we got this, like let’s see if it fits all the pieces. So, I was still surprised. But I understood what was going on with the Seahawks.”
During his final season with Seattle, Walker earned an 88.4 overall grade from PFF. Furthermore, the former Seahawks standout posted a 90.2 rushing grade, logging 221 carries for 1,027 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt.
Walker also showed his ability to create yards on his own, forcing 61 missed tackles and averaging 3.0 yards after contact per carry. In the passing game, he was reliable as well, hauling in 31 of his 34 targets for 282 yards, though he did not record a receiving touchdown.
Kenneth Walker III Exit Was Business Side of Football
Despite the Seahawks losing this production, Alexander understood that this is a business and that Walker had to do what was best for his situation.
“It was one of those unfortunate business side of football that kind of had to go, but he left,“ Alexander added. “He made his money. He’s with a great team and a great quarterback and a great coach. So he’s in a good place. That is the, the yuck of the business where your Super Bowl MVP doesn’t get to come back in and try to run it back with the Seahawks.”
Kenneth Walker III on His Departure From the Seahawks
As Walker begins a new life in Kansas City, he recently told NBC Sports NFL insider Mike Florio on the May 4 edition of PFT PM that he knew it was time to leave Seattle.
“I would say, if I’m being honest, sometime during the season,“ Walker told Florio. “Things didn’t work out how I expected, and that’s all right because it worked out for the team. But yeah, it was during the season, and then once free agency came around, you pretty much knew you weren’t going to be there anymore. Me personally, I knew I wasn’t going to be there anymore.”
It will be interesting to see how the running back performs with the Chiefs, knowing that Kansas City will lean on him 100 percent and not have those split carries as he did with Zach Charbonnet.
Shaun Alexander Gets Blunt on Kenneth Walker III’s Seahawks Exit