Matt Calkins: Seahawks will feel loss of Kenneth Walker III while trying to repeat

Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times on Mar 10, 2026

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — They don't get paid like the top players at several other positions, but they still matter.

The man carrying the ball can be the one carrying the offense, and that was no different with Kenneth Walker III.

The MVP of Super Bowl LX will no longer be a Seahawk after agreeing to a three-year, $45 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday. And the 25-year-old who hit the holes with near peerless acceleration will leave a hole in Seattle's O.

This wasn't just another running back.

Walker's regular-season resume isn't dripping with accolades four years into his career, but his impact with the Seahawks last season was profound. He racked up 1,027 yards on 221 carries (4.7 yards per attempt) while scoring nine touchdowns.

No, those aren't the kind of stats that get you on an All-Pro team or even a Pro Bowl nod. But Pro Football Focus — a site that evaluates players based on every snap they play — gave him the highest 2025 grade among all NFL RBs.

Of course, GMs don't turn to PFF when negotiating salaries. Despite Walker's achievements on an analytic level, he isn't getting Saquon Barkley or Christian McCaffrey money. Still, his production at the end of the regular season and postseason was enough to make him the fourth-highest paid running back in the league, per Over the Cap. Can you blame the Chiefs for wanting him in their backfield?

The Seahawks' 38-37 overtime win against the Los Angeles Rams last December was highlighted by three two-point conversions in that 16-point comeback. What was less publicized was Walker's 100 rushing yards on 11 carries — a crucial factor in that crucial victory.

He also had 97 yards on 16 carries in the 13-3 win over the Niners in the regular-season finale that clinched the division and the top seed in the NFC. He added 116 yards on 19 carries two weeks later in the playoff-opening win vs. San Francisco, and in the Super Bowl, compiled 135 yards on 27 carries.

The once lethargic Seahawks running game had become lethal at the end of the year, and Walker was the primary driver.

This is not a suggestion that Seahawks general manager John Schneider should have re-signed Walker. In fact, his Super Bowl performance might have driven his market value to a point they couldn't meet.

There are only so many cap dollars to go around — and a big chunk of them went into re-signing cornerback Josh Jobe to a three-year, $24 million deal.

This also isn't suggesting that Walker is the only key loss in free agency. Safety back Coby Bryant signed a $40 million deal with the Chicago Bears. Linebacker Boye Mafe signed a $60 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals.

But the Super Bowl MVP who carved up the NFL in the final quarter of the season? That might sting a little differently.

Schneider has earned a near-lifetime benefit of the doubt given what he has achieved in his Seahawks tenure, which has included two Lombardi Trophies. Using free agency, trades or the draft, he will keep a team that is currently the sportsbooks' second choice (behind the Rams) to win next year's Super Bowl competitive.

The fact that the Seahawks have been quiet thus far in free agency is meaningless. Plus, the most integral pieces — quarterback Sam Darnold, wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, left tackle Charles Cross, cornerback Devon Witherspoon, defensive end Leonard Williams, linebacker Ernest Jones IV among others — are still in place.

A repeat isn't only possible, it's gonna be a near expectation around here. But rotating personnel is going to make it difficult.

Walker has never been a huge talker. Anytime he has a performance worthy of the postgame podium, he usually goes first (even before coach Mike Macondald) just to get it out of the way quickly. But when he was forced into more interviews because of what he did in the Super Bowl, he endeared himself even more to a fan base that now has to say goodbye.

For one, he discussed how his father — who's averse to crowds — watched him play an NFL game in-person for the first time at the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif. Then, Walker mentioned how he had no interest in partying after the game and just spent the night with his family.

It was as wholesome as it was sincere.

Well, he might not like to party — but he helped create one of the biggest ones in Seattle history. Walker made a lot of defenders miss him in the open field. Gonna be a lot of fans who miss him, too.

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