Kenneth Walker II won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in February, took home the MVP award on stage at Levi’s Stadium, and led his squad’s parade through downtown Seattle with the whole city chanting his name. Three weeks later, he signed a three-year, $43.05 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs – the largest free-agent contract ever handed to a running back. And now, he’s going back to Seattle in June to pick up his ring.

Kay Adams asked him on the Up & Adams Show how the ring ceremony works now that he’s no longer with the team.

“Yeah, I’m still going to go back because I love my old teammates,” Walker said. “That don’t mean I can’t talk to my boys back there. So I’m definitely going to try to make it out there in June.”

Walker earned that ring the hard way. After Zach Charbonnet, his backfield partner all season, tore his ACL in the Divisional Round, Walker carried the full load through the conference championship and the Super Bowl, totalling 313 rushing yards and four touchdowns across three postseason starts. Seattle winning that championship without a backup running back is largely his story.

Despite all of that, Seattle let him walk. The Seahawks couldn’t – or wouldn’t – match what Kansas City put on the table. Walker got $28.7 million fully guaranteed, a $13 million signing bonus, and the featured backfield role he wanted. In Seattle, even in a Super Bowl season, he was sharing snaps. But in Kansas City, he is the back.

So, the June ring ceremony puts Walker in an unusual spot – returning to the building where he won as a champion, wearing different colors. It’s not uncomfortable as he says, but it wouldn’t be simple either.

What makes this different from a typical free agency departure is the timing. Walker didn’t leave Seattle after a bad season, a contract dispute, or a falling out. He left three weeks after winning the Super Bowl MVP. At the championship parade, general manager John Schneider grabbed the mic in front of nearly a million fans, shouted “Ken Walker being the MVP, let’s go!” and joked that Walker had tried negotiating with him five minutes earlier on stage. Walker publicly fact-checked him later. Just weeks after that, he was a Chief. That’s a different kind of return.

Walker also had another pointed reason to leave beyond the money. Kansas City is offering him a backfield to himself. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, without a reliable running back, has been a recurring problem for the Kansas City. Last season, Kareem Hunt led the team in rushing with just 611 yards. Mahomes himself had to run for 422 yards to keep things going. With Walker, he gets a running back who dominated the regular season with 1,027 yards and five touchdowns.

And as for Walker, he goes from a team that just won a Super Bowl with him to a team that wants to win one because of him.

Now, the ring Walker is going back to collect hasn’t been unveiled yet. But the Seahawks have already told everyone what it’s going to feel like.

The ring Kenneth Walker III is going back for

In mid-April, the Seahawks announced that they had partnered with jeweler Jason of Beverly Hills to design the Super Bowl LX championship ring. The reveal is scheduled for this summer, with the ceremony expected in June, right in the window Walker said he plans to attend. And how Seattle announced the ring was also something special.

The Seahawks dropped an announcement video on Instagram in collaboration with JBH, and featured the song “Bittersweet Symphony” – the track that used to echo through Lumen Field as the team ran onto the field before every home game. For a franchise that just lost its Super Bowl MVP – and for the MVP himself – the song choice wasn’t subtle.

Additionally, JBH also has serious credentials. They have designed three Super Bowl rings in the past – for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022, the Los Angeles Rams in 2023, and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024. Both the Buccaneers and Eagles rings had references to each franchise winning their second Lombardi Trophy, which applies to Seattle this time around as well.

As for what ends up on the face, some of the reported mottos could be “We Did Not Care,” “M.O.B.,” “12 As 1,” the 29-13 final score, and “The 70” for the practice squad members getting rings too. This team has given JBH plenty to work with.

Kenneth Walker III will be in that room in June, not as a Seahawk, but as someone who earned every diamond on that ring. He carried the offense through three playoff games without a healthy backfield partner, won the MVP, and then walked out the door for a better deal. The ring doesn’t change any of that. Neither does the team he plays for now.