Vance Joseph knows exactly where the trouble starts for the Broncos on Monday night: with Kansas City’s new back, Kenneth Walker III.
The Broncos defensive coordinator is preparing for the usual Week 1 curveballs from Andy Reid, Eric Bieniemy and Steve Spagnuolo, but Walker adds a different layer to the challenge. Denver expects some unscouted looks from a Chiefs offense that always keeps something tucked away, and Joseph’s message to his defense is simple - play clean, stay disciplined and be ready to adjust on the fly.
Walker is the offseason addition that changes the feel of the matchup. Kansas City brought in the reigning Super Bowl MVP to give Patrick Mahomes the first 1,000-yard rusher of his career.
Kareem Hunt did go over 1,000 in 2017 with 1,327 rushing yards, but that came in Mahomes’s rookie year with Alex Smith still starting. Walker, meanwhile, has topped 1,000 yards twice in his four-year career, including last season in Seattle.
Joseph sees why Kansas City wanted him. On Friday, he called Walker a run-first back who can grind out the short stuff and then flip a game with one explosive play.
"Well, he brings a run-first mentality," Joseph said of Walker on Friday. "He can obviously get the tough runs for four yards, five yards, but he has the ability also to take it 60, to hit a home run, and that makes backs dangerous.
I don’t worry about the backs that can get four yards and, one-on-one tackle, you can trip them up. But this guy is not that way."
That explosive element is what makes the assignment so tricky. Joseph said the Broncos have to tackle well and stay sound, because the Chiefs’ offense is built around quick completions and runs that force one defender to miss before the yards start piling up.
Walker’s power between the tackles is only part of the equation. If he gets into space, Denver has even more to worry about.
"He can get the tough four, he can run through arm tackles, but he can also make you miss and go 60," Joseph said of Walker. "And the Chiefs have always been a great screen team.
So this guy in space is a problem. If he gets in the secondary versus your DBs, he can break tackles.
So having a plan for him is obviously important for us."
The Broncos have seen Walker before, but only once - in the 2024 season opener against Seattle, which was Bo Nix’s first start. The Seahawks leaned on him that day, giving him 20 carries, and he finished with 103 rushing yards and a touchdown. He also caught two passes against Denver.
Joseph and the Broncos have surely gone back to those cut-ups, because the scouting report on Walker is clear: he changes the way a defense has to play. And with Kansas City paying him nearly $15 million per year, Joseph figures Reid plans to use him heavily, especially with Mahomes returning from a multi-ligament knee injury.
"They signed him for a reason. They want to get back to run-first, and that obviously makes your play-action pass game a lot better," Joseph said of Walker.
"They want to take deep shots, but to do that, they’ve got to draw the backers up and the safeties sometimes, and he does that for them. So it was a perfect fit for that offense."
Denver had interest in Walker too, but once his market climbed above $14 million annually, the Broncos backed away and instead re-signed J.K. Dobbins to a two-year, $16 million deal. Dobbins, when healthy, is a top-five back in the NFL, and Denver is paying a little more than half of what Kansas City committed to Walker.
The numbers from last season show why this is such a fascinating matchup. The Broncos finished second in rushing defense, allowing 91.1 yards per game, while the Chiefs ranked 25th in rushing at 106.6 yards per game.
With Walker in the fold, Kansas City wants to push into the top 10. Denver is built to make that hard.
The Broncos did lose defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, but Malcolm Roach and Eyioma Uwazurike are expected to be better against the run, even if they may not match his pass-rush production. That makes the run-stopping battle even more central for Denver.
If the Broncos can keep Walker under control, they give themselves a real chance to slow the Chiefs’ whole operation. If he gets rolling, Kansas City can keep the chains moving and open up the play-action game that Reid and Bieniemy want to lean on.
That’s the line for Denver in Arrowhead: contain Walker, and the path looks a lot cleaner. Let him loose, and the Chiefs can make life ugly in a hurry.
The Broncos already beat Kansas City at Arrowhead late last season, though Mahomes did not play because of the knee injury. This time, Denver is staring at the full version of the challenge.
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