Kenneth Walker III won the Super Bowl in the final year of his four-year rookie deal with the Seattle Seahawks and walked off as a free agent. The Kansas City Chiefs saw a golden opportunity and scooped him up with a three-year, $43 million deal, and Walker is already proving he is worth every penny. He has rushed for 290 yards in two games, already recording nearly a third of what he did in 17 games for the Seahawks last season.
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While discussing the Chiefs matchup against the Miami Dolphins on the “Home Grown with David & Derek Carr” podcast on Sep. 24, Derek Carr recalled watching the Seahawks’ Super Bowl win in February. When he heard Seahawks general manager John Schneider saying that Walker had tried to negotiate with him minutes before, he knew the running back wasn’t staying.
But as a former Las Vegas Raiders quarterback, he especially hated that the Chiefs were the ones to snag the elite RB, who led the league in rushing and scrimmage yards just two weeks into the regular season.
“And man, if there was one team I thought I don’t want him to go to, it would be this team (Chiefs). And guess what? He ended up there, and now he’s leading the league with 369 yards,” the younger Carr brother exclaimed. “Does anyone else see that stuff and be like in football, and be like, ‘Hey, let’s just not let him go there.'”
During an exclusive interview with Athlon Sports in May, Walker revealed that three or four teams were interested in acquiring him. In the end, after discussing it with his father, the running back decided that the Chiefs would be the best choice for him.
As the former Raiders QB vented out his frustration at the Chiefs landing Walker, David pointed out another detail about who had pressured the Chiefs front office to go after Walker and get him on the team.
“Hey, you know who saw it? Pat Mahomes. Because he was the one that was on the horn with his general manager and head coach saying, ‘We need Kenneth Walker in the building right now,'” David Carr said on the podcast.
Mahomes has been openly vocal about his admiration for Walker. Back in July, Mahomes, who was still recovering from his ACL injury, identified exactly what made Walker such a good RB despite never having played on the same team before.
“He’s one of the best football players I’ve ever been around, and I just say that from watching practices and what he does. He’s a great leader on and off the field, too,” Mahomes said during an interview with Yahoo Sports. “He learns fast. He helps out the guys around him, and I’m sure he’ll make everybody else’s job a lot easier.”
Mahomes’ comments about Walker carried significant weight considering the Chiefs’ disappointing run game during the 2025 season. Kansas City finished the regular season with 1,812 rushing yards on 430 attempts, averaging 4.2 yards per carry and ranking near the bottom of the league in rushing yards.
Their two primary RBs, Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco, combined for 1,073 rushing yards, but averaged 3.8 and 3.9 tards per carry, respectively. That became particularly problematic because opposing defenses were often willing to devote fewer defenders to the box against Kansas City’s rushing attack. Through the opening weeks of the season, the Chiefs faced light boxes on 64.8% of their rushing attempts.
It was one of the highest in the NFL, yet Hunt and Pacheco were averaging only 3.6 yards per carry through three games and had not produced a run of at least 12 yards. That burden increasingly fell on Mahomes himself. Through the first two games, he was actually Kansas City’s leading rusher.
After the Week 2 matchup, Mahomes had 123 yards rushing, while the rest of the team combined for 96 yards. Mahomes ultimately finished the regular season with 422 rushing yards and five touchdowns, averaging 6.6 yards per carry, significantly higher than either of Kansas City’s primary running backs.
Now, however, it’s safe to say that with the arrival of Kenneth Walker, the Chiefs have managed to reduce Mahomes’ workload.
That certainly prompted both Carr brothers to concede that the Chiefs’ chances looked significantly better with Walker in the mix. Derek reasoned that while the Dolphins did have a prominent offensive player in Malik Willis, Kansas City still had the upper hand, with both Mahomes and Walker dominating the offense.
Despite being rueful about Walker’s addition, Derek couldn’t help but give a shoutout to the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy, calling it “the Bieniemy Effect”. They discussed how the OC used creative schemes and frustrated the opponent by skillfully navigating the red zone.
During his first stint with the Chiefs as OC, Bieniemy molded the team’s offense to consistently lead the league, leading them to five consecutive AFC Championship games and three Super Bowl appearances, two of which ended with the Chiefs winning the Lombardi.
Bieniemy is back this season, and the Chiefs have started the season 2-0. Mahomes, who was familiar with Bieniemy’s offensive style, already pointed out how the offensive players need to improve their handling of the ball in the red zone. All that’s left is to see how long their winning streak lasts this regular season.