Kenneth Walker III’s blistering opening month has him leading the NFL in rushing and putting him on a pace that the Chiefs haven’t seen in a long time. Through four weeks, he has piled up 537 rushing yards, and Kansas City pointed out Thursday that no player has done more over the first four games in the last 15 years.
The name sitting right behind that benchmark makes the story even more interesting: DeMarco Murray, Walker’s position coach. Murray opened the 2014 season with 534 rushing yards for the Dallas Cowboys, according to Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, just behind Walker’s current total.
That’s a neat twist for Kansas City, which brought Murray in as running backs coach in February after six seasons in the same role at Oklahoma. Murray played his college football for the Sooners before Dallas selected him in the third round of the 2011 draft.
Walker’s start has been strong enough to fuel MVP chatter and help push the Chiefs to a 4-0 record, but the bigger picture is still impossible to ignore. Murray’s 2014 season stands as one of the most productive by a running back in NFL history. He finished with a league-leading 1,845 rushing yards and 2,261 yards from scrimmage on 449 touches.
If Walker keeps anywhere near that level, it would say plenty about Kansas City’s offense and its place among the AFC’s top teams. It also raises the same old concerns about how much mileage a back can handle. Murray’s career never stayed at that peak for long, and the Chiefs are already paying attention to the wear-and-tear question.
That’s part of why rookie Emmett Johnson is being worked into the offense. He has had some effective moments while getting up to speed, but Walker is hard to pull off the field with the way he’s running. His edge is obvious: he wants the ball, and he runs like a workhorse.
Still, he can’t take every snap, and Kansas City’s early bye week comes at a useful time. The Chiefs also have offensive line issues to sort through after Patrick Mahomes took plenty of hits during the four-game winning streak, so the formula figures to look a little different when they return.
In Other News...
Chiefs Teammates Share A Bond Bigger Than Football
Trey Smith and Kenneth Walker III have become much more than teammates in Kansas City. Both lived through serious blood clot conditions that put their football futures in doubt and forced them to confront something far bigger than the game, and now they are using their platform to help other people understand how sudden and dangerous those medical issues can be.
Their work has taken them into public awareness efforts aimed at getting the message out that blood clots can affect anyone, including young elite athletes. Through the National Blood Clot Alliances "Stop The Clot, Spread The Word" campaign, the Chiefs players are helping turn personal adversity into education, a reminder that the most important victories sometimes happen away from the field. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Fans Are Split Over How Kenneth Walkers Viral Highlight Was Shared
Kenneth Walker has given Chiefs fans plenty to talk about this season, and one of his more memorable bursts came on a 21-yard run in a recent game that showed off the same tackle-breaking ability he has displayed all year. The run fit the larger picture around Walker, who has made defenders miss repeatedly and has become a player worth watching whenever Kansas City gets into space and lets him work.
The conversation shifted online after a viral, AI-generated image of the play began circulating and drew immediate scrutiny from fans. What might have been a simple highlight post instead turned into another example of how quickly sports imagery can become a debate about accuracy, authenticity and how much room AI should be given in the way games are presented. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Secondary Reset Looks Smart But One Delane Concern Lingers
The Chiefs reset in the secondary already looks like one of those moves that can shape a season early. Mansoor Delane has quickly gone from a drafted project to a key part of the back end, and even with a rough start tied to a shoulder issue, he announced himself in the opener with an interception that reminded everyone why Kansas City made the move in the first place.
Mansoor Delanes emergence also comes with the kind of caution teams hate but live with when a young defender flashes this soon. His health is still a concern, and the Chiefs are expected to keep a close eye on his snap count as he keeps developing, which makes his next stretch worth watching even if the early returns have been encouraging. [Read more 🡒]