Kenneth Walker's Arrival Could Be the Offensive Catalyst the Chiefs Have Been Missing
With OTAs underway and Mahomes back on the field, Kansas City's most significant offseason addition is already turning heads.
OTAs kicked off this week, and for the first time since tearing his ACL and LCL against the Los Angeles Chargers, Patrick Mahomes was on the field with his teammates. That was the biggest headline coming out of this portion of organized team activities, and rightfully so.
But close behind it is the presence of the man the Kansas City Chiefs are counting on to transform their running game: Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker.
It should not be overlooked that Walker was the prize of the offseason, and how that relates to the Chiefs finishing 16th and 20th in total offense over the past two seasons.
Walker signed a three-year, $45 million contract in March, and head coach Andy Reid made clear after Thursday’s practice that the early returns have been a sight to see.
“Stronger than an ox, I mean, he’s (Walker) put together now,” Reid said to reporters.
“He’s doing a good job. He’s got a ton of energy, and you can tell he loves to play the game, wants to learn what we’re doing here,” Reid said, leading up to describing his physical stature. “He’s coming from a great program, and he gets that it takes work to be good, and he’s willing to do that.”
It is hard to even quantify how significant Walker’s presence will be for this offense, but explosive plays are a good place to start. Walker amassed 33 runs of over 10 yards last season, with 10 of those gaining over 20, which ranked third in the NFL.
For comparison, the Chiefs found just 22 of those runs as a team, and only three crossed the 20-yard mark. For further context, two of those three came from Mahomes himself.
Those regular-season numbers were magnified in the biggest moments, too. In Super Bowl LX, Walker was the obvious MVP candidate when five of his 27 carries went over 10 yards. He rushed for 135 yards total in the Seattle Seahawks’ 29-13 drumming of the New England Patriots.
2025 was not a breakout season, either. Walker rushed for over 1,000 yards as a rookie out of Michigan State and crossed that threshold in scrimmage yards in three of his four NFL seasons. The Chiefs have not had a 1,000-yard rusher since Kareem Hunt’s rookie season in 2017.
That drought is worth putting into context. Over the past two seasons, Hunt was the team’s leading rusher, topping out at 728 yards. He proved valuable in short-yardage situations, ranking 12th in first-down rushes, but that was the beginning and the end of his value as a feature back. The shine from Isiah Pacheco’s rookie-year Super Bowl run had worn thin by the time he departed, and the Chiefs got next to nothing from the position for two straight seasons.
This offseason, Kansas City not only added Walker but also brought in Emari Demercado from the Arizona Cardinals, who is explosive in his own right as a third-down back, and Emmett Johnson, who led the Big Ten in rushing last season for Nebraska. The running back room has been completely overhauled.
Those additions should provide three key positives to the Chiefs’ offense. The first is explosive plays, as stated earlier. The second is that it should take pressure off Mahomes as he recovers from a significant knee injury and force defenses to account for a legitimate rushing attack, which should leave pass catchers with more space to get open.
Mahomes took notice of Walker early, and not just as a football player.
“First off, he’s a great dude. That’s the first thing I noticed,” Mahomes said to reporters. “You can tell he truly cares about football, and he cares about his teammates. If he’s not in the play, he’s helping the guys on the sideline, and he’s trying to learn and asking me questions and doing those things ... He’s going to help us a lot on this team, by his mindset and the football player that he is.”
The third benefit may be the one that flies under the radar most. From left to right, the Chiefs’ offensive line consists of a first-round pick at left tackle, a second-rounder at left guard, one of the league’s highest-paid centers, the highest-paid right guard in football, and a $15 million per year right tackle.
Four of those five are at their best when they are run blocking. Left tackle Joshua Simmons is known for his pass protection, and Creed Humphrey is just flat out good at everything, but the rest of that unit are road graders.
The biggest beneficiary that jumps off the page is Trey Smith. As Walker is a downhill runner, Smith is a downhill run blocker, the kind of lineman you can build a run game around. He consistently ranks at the top of the league in run blocking according to PFF, and he was highly regarded as such coming out of Tennessee in 2021.
Smith did not hide his excitement when speaking to reporters Thursday.
“Definitely excited to work with K9 ... I know he’s tough. It’s a pleasure, man. I’m really excited just to get going, to get this offense progressing,” Smith said to reporters.
He added a moment later: “I’m really excited to block for him, you know, being a former MVP. It’s a really cool thing to be able to have a running back like that.”
If Reid truly commits to the run game, which is slowly becoming in vogue across the NFL, this could be a match made in heaven, marrying truly talented running backs with a truly talented offensive line.
Until he gets hurt when it's not a contract year and misses half the season.