Recently, the Kansas City Chiefs made a splash when it was announced that they had signed reigning Super Bowl MVP running back Kenneth Walker III away from the Seattle Seahawks in free agency. Walker III figures to shore up the Chiefs' running game, which has been a major weak spot for the team's offense over the last couple of seasons.
Recently, football guru Brett Baveau revealed the biggest thing that Walker III will provide for Kansas City that they didn't have in years past.
“Without question, it’s him being able to turn negative runs into efficient runs and efficient runs into explosive runs. His ability to create explosiveness in the run game is something the Chiefs haven’t had since Jamaal Charles in the 2010s,” said Taveau, per Jesse Newell of The Athletic.
Indeed, the Chiefs haven't had an elite running game in about a decade, since Charles suited up for the franchise prior to the dynastic days of Patrick Mahomes.
At one point last year, Mahomes was the leading rusher for the team several weeks into the season, and it's safe to say that the Chiefs don't want to have to rely on that this year, especially with Mahomes coming off of an ACL injury he suffered toward the end of last year.
As Taveau noted, Walker III has the ability to play through contact and turn negative plays into positive ones with consistency, giving Kansas City another dimension to their offense and potentially freeing things up down the field for the team's wide receivers, as well as giving Mahomes a more viable play action game to work out of.
In any case, the Chiefs' schedule for the upcoming 2026 season is slated to be announced in May.
