Chiefs Added Explosiveness With Walker, but Here's Better Question

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Actions mean a lot more than words to Kenneth Walker. A private, reserved personality, he doesn’t have a lot to say.

But since his first carry at Michigan State in 2021, a 75-yard touchdown run at Northwestern, he’s shown plenty of action. A month later against the Wolverines, he let his legs do a lot of talking with 197 yards and five touchdowns on 23 carries -- letting Gus Johnson tell his story.

“There’s a lot I love about football,” Walker said Thursday in his first comments since signing a three-year, $43.05 million contract this week. “But the feeling, the adrenaline, the excitement you get when you go out there and put on the pads, and I'm just competitive.”

Competitive like a race horse who loathes losing, Walker owns a scientific something that just accelerates his legs on those long bursts. His straight-line speed is obvious. He ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at the 2022 combine, and his 13.2 average miles per hour on his carries this past season ranked second in the NFL behind De’Von Achane (13.4).

Elite vision

But don’t bet against him in a derby because that competitiveness comes out in the silent film. Walker loves photography but there haven’t been a lot of photo finishes when he’s on the gridiron. The smart money is on Walker, not simply because of his speed and that added adrenaline that propels him toward goal lines. His elite vision is what allows him to see creases at the line of scrimmage.

In fact, his vision is so elite that since he entered the league as Seattle’s second-round selection (41st overall) in the 2022 draft, Walker has 99 carries of 10-plus yards. That’s 12.1 percent of his rushing attempts.

During that span (2022-25) among players with at least 675 attempts, only Jahmyr Gibbs (14.1) James Cook (12.5) and Bijan Robinson (12.4) have higher percentages of carries that covered 10-or-more yards. Walker said he’s ready to use that burst to literally move the Chiefs forward.

“I think we’ll make a great impact,” said Walker, who in the Super Bowl last month had carries of 30, 29, 20 and 14 yards, of his Chiefs teammates. “We got a lot of guys that got speed on this team, a lot of great players, like I said before. So, everybody just needs to come together as a team.”

mahomes, bieniem — Jul 27, 2022; St. Joseph, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) talks with offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy during training camp at Missouri Western State University. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Chiefs need to adapt to Walker (not vice versa)

How that team uses Walker is a graduate-level question, however. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes have never employed a traditional pro-style offense, what Klint Kubiak and Sam Darnold ran last season in Seattle.

Walker had 174 carries out of under-center formations last season, and only 47 out of shotgun. The Chiefs rarely go under center, and when they used RPO (run-pass option) in 2025, they passed more than any NFL team.

All smiles over here 😄 pic.twitter.com/TB779awEnI
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) March 12, 2026

But the investment the Chiefs just made in Walker leads observers to believe that Reid and Eric Bieniemy are about the unveil a different offense in 2026, one that fits Walker.