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Seahawks Reveal Free Agency Plan For Ken Walker III

Kenneth Walker III is a free agent after winning Super Bowl MVP honors with the Seattle Seahawks.
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III speaks in a press conference after defeating the New England Patriots.
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III speaks in a press conference after defeating the New England Patriots. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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The Seattle Seahawks are getting ready for free agency, where they have a few players hitting the open market that could really affect the future of the team.

Among those players is running back Kenneth Walker III, who boosted his earning potential by winning Super Bowl MVP honors against the New England Patriots. He played extremely well throughout the playoffs, and several teams will be interested in his services.

Seahawks general manager John Schneider spoke about Walker's re-agency and explained that Seattle would be among the teams interested in him.

"We'd love to have Ken back, and he knows this better than anybody -- it's about our 70 and our collective and what that's going to look like," Schneider said via ESPN insider Brady Henderson.

"We'll have those meetings down here. We'll start talking to all the agents and we'll have a better feel of where we're going towards the end of the week. We want to have everybody back. Right when you get done with something special like that, you're like, 'Let's run it back. Let's run it back.' It's going to be an interesting process."

Seahawks Want Kenneth Walker III to Return

Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III poses with the MVP trophy
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III poses with the MVP trophy. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Seahawks could make things simple by placing the franchise tag on Walker, preventing him from signing with another team. However, that would put Walker on a one-year deal with a price tag that is likely more than what the running back would get from another team.

The Seahawks don't want to do that because it's very risky and doesn't offer long-term assurance to Walker or the team. While Walker is an excellent player at a position of need, the Seahawks need to take the whole roster under consideration.

"It's going to be a challenge to figure this year's puzzle out," Schneider said via Henderson. "It's a really cool team and they're all special people. So we're going to try to retain as many of those guys as we possibly can. As long as we can keep that ... that collective 70 together."

The Seahawks plan on having 53 for the main roster and 17 on the practice squad, giving them 70 altogether. Add in the 20 or so players for training camp and the team has roster spots galore to fill.

The Seahawks have to make sure each piece fits the puzzle correctly, otherwise it won't lead to the Lombardi Trophy.

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Jeremy Brener
JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several On SI sites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid and resides in Central Florida. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener.