Kenneth Walker III returns to Lumen Field on Sunday night as the NFL’s leading rusher, but one analyst expects the Super Bowl LX MVP’s early-season surge with the Kansas City Chiefs to cool against his former team.
Walker signed a three-year, $43.05 million contract with Kansas City in free agency after helping the Seahawks win their second Super Bowl title. Through five games, he has carried the ball 106 times for 665 yards and six touchdowns while averaging 6.3 yards per carry.
He has also forced 41 missed tackles and averaged 4.4 yards after contact per attempt, according to Pro Football Focus, which graded him 90.8 overall across 241 snaps. In the passing game, he has caught 14 of 19 targets for 95 yards and two scores.
That production has helped the Chiefs to a 5-0 start, the franchise’s best opening in years. Walker ranks first in the league in rushing yards and is on pace for roughly 2,261 yards over a full 17-game season, a mark that would top Eric Dickerson’s single-season record.
CBS Sports analyst Leger Douzable, speaking in an Oct. 22 video, said the regression he anticipates begins this week.
“For a regression, which you would assume is going to happen,” Douzable said. “At this pace, it’s ridiculous and I think it starts this week. That is a tough defense to run the football against because of those two war daddies they have in the middle, Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy.”
Douzable pointed to Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald’s defensive scheme as the primary factor.
“You don’t think that Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is going to know that the key focal point of the Kansas City offense is to minimize what Kenneth Walker III does? He’s going to do everything in his power to make sure that Mahomes and that Chiefs offense are in second and third-and-long. That way, their pass rushers can really get after the quarterback.”
He added that the plan centers on taking away Kansas City’s most effective element rather than any personal history with Walker.
“They feel like maybe they can take advantage of that if they get them in those third-and-long and advantageous downs,” Douzable said. “So I think Coach Macdonald, because he is a defensive genius — we always talk about these offensive geniuses — Mike Macdonald is one of those defensive geniuses.
“He’s going to try to minimize the guy. I don’t think it has anything to do with Kenneth Walker coming back to Seattle. It has more to do with taking away what the Chiefs have done really well.”
Seattle’s defense has not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 35 consecutive games, a franchise record and the longest active streak in the NFL. The last opponent to reach the mark was Buffalo’s James Cook, who gained 111 yards on Oct. 27, 2024.
Walker has cleared 100 rushing yards in four of his five games this season, including two performances of more than 170 yards. Kansas City’s run game has climbed from 25th in the league a year ago to second this season.
Seattle, meanwhile, sits at 3-3 and has struggled to generate consistent production on the ground. The team has rushed for fewer total yards than Walker alone has produced with the Chiefs.
Discussion around the decision to let Walker leave has intensified as the Seahawks’ offense has sputtered. Former Seattle tight end Luke Willson, now a TSN NFL analyst, addressed the topic on an Oct. 21 appearance.
“It certainly seems like it’s a massive one, but I do think we’re a little too quick to completely stamp that as a mistake,” Willson said. “The reason being here is you look at Seattle. Some of the money they spent on offense this offseason went toward Rashid Shaheed, also a special teams guy, and that offense in Seattle has struggled mightily. So, that being said, I don’t think they’re completely cooked yet, as we like to use that term.”
Sunday’s matchup, scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC, offers a direct test of both the Seahawks’ defensive streak and Walker’s ability to sustain his current rate of production against a familiar unit.
