Kenneth Walker didn’t need long to remind people what kind of back he is.
In his first game with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night against the Denver Broncos, the former Seattle Seahawks running back was electric. He piled up 173 rushing yards on 23 carries, a hefty 7.5 yards per attempt, and added three catches for 18 yards. Those 173 rushing yards were the most ever for an RB playing with quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
For Seahawks fans, that kind of debut can land in a strange place: impressive, but not exactly painful. Walker spent four seasons in Seattle, and while he was never the loudest guy in the room, he did plenty of his talking on the field. He also left a real mark on the Seahawks’ run to a Super Bowl last season, when Zach Charbonnet went down in the Divisional Round against the San Francisco 49ers and Walker suddenly had to handle almost everything at running back.
He answered. In year four, he stayed healthy and turned in the best football of his NFL career.
That matters in Seattle, because there’s a strong argument the Seahawks don’t win the title without him. That’s why 12s are likely to keep him in good standing, even now that he’s wearing Chiefs red.
He may have missed too much time because of injuries in his second and third seasons, but there was never any question about his willingness to play. When he finally got through a full year healthy, he made it count.
Seattle has its own answer in rookie running back Jadarian Price, a first-round draft choice this year who has already shown what he can do in a Seahawks uniform. Price didn’t come close to Walker’s yardage in Week 1, but the expectation is that both backs will be very good with their new teams.
And Walker gave Kansas City exactly the kind of jolt Seattle fans remember well. On 4th-and-1 in the third quarter, he ripped off a 60-yard touchdown run, the sort of burst that makes him so dangerous when he’s rolling.
The Chiefs paid him more and gave him the chance to avoid sharing the backfield with another runner, and Walker took the deal. Hard to argue with that. For Seattle fans, the reaction can be simple: happy for him, as long as he doesn’t do that to the Seahawks.
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