It became official Tuesday — Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, can become a free agent next week, able to sign with any team that gives him what he perceives as the best offer.
That became the scenario when Tuesday’s 1 p.m. deadline passed and the Seahawks — as expected — did not place a franchise or transition tag on Walker.
Unless the Seahawks sign Walker before the free agent negotiating period — or, the so-called “legal tampering” period — begins Monday at 9 a.m., he will hit the open market.
Once that happens, all bets are off as to a player’s future.
To quickly summarize, if they had placed a franchise tag on Walker it would have guaranteed him a salary of $14.293 million for the 2026 season and given the Seahawks the right to match any offers he might receive as a free agent as well as possibly giving them compensation.
While the players can continue to negotiate as free agents until they sign the tag, the team has to take all of cap hit immediately.
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That would drop the Seahawks from the roughly $54.899 million it had entering Tuesday, according to OvertheCap.com, to roughly $40 million.
That’s still a decent amount, but the Seahawks have other free agents they may want to retain such as receiver Rashid Shaheed, safety Coby Bryant, rush end Boye Mafe and cornerbacks Riq Woolen and Josh Jobe.
The Seahawks know that before next season they will likely have to sign receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and cornerback Devon Witherspoon to extensions that figure to pay each at or above the top of their position market (both are under contract through 2026 but are eligible for extensions).
As general manager John Schneider said last week at the NFL scouting combine, every free-agent move the team makes this offseason has to be considered within what is best for the 70-man roster (53-man active roster and 17-man practice squad).
Fitting in a $14.293 million cap hit and accomplishing that goal was going to be difficult.
That number would have tied Walker for the fourth-highest paid running back in the NFL, along with Breece Hall of the Jets, who got a franchise tag Tuesday.
The only running backs making more on a per-year basis are Saquon Barkley of the Eagles ($20.6 million), Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers ($19 million) and Derrick Henry of the Ravens ($15 million).
Teams generally place tags to keep the player from hitting free agency and try and work out a conventional contract that is more amenable to the salary cap. Teams can negotiate with players they have tagged until July 22.
That carries the risk of alienating the player — who’d prefer their long-term security be wrapped — with no guarantee that a more amenable deal comes to fruition.
Instead of using the tag, what some think the Seahawks will do is let Walker test the market, see what kind of offers he is getting, and decide if it’s worth trying to match or better that offer.
That’s what the Seahawks did with Chris Carson in 2021 when he hit the open market and after assessing a few offers, returned on a two-year deal for a total of $10.425 million.
Carson wasn’t the reigning Super Bowl MVP and had missed four games the previous season because of injury (and would see his career end because of a neck injury suffered just four games into the following season).
Some thought a deal the Cowboys reached last month with running back Javonte Williams — three years at $24 million total with $16 million guaranteed — would serve as a good template for the Seahawks and Walker.
Walker appears likely to command much more at a time when his market is likely to never be hotter.
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With Hall off the table, Walker is regarded as the top running back available in free agency.
NFL writer Albert Breer of SI.com assessed the running-back market this way on Tuesday shortly after it was revealed Hall would be tagged and Walker would not: “The tag also helps to further define the running back market. It leaves Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III alone as the top back on the market, and Walker will probably wind up getting somewhere between $12 million and $16 million per season, from a team like the Seahawks, Broncos or Chiefs. It also makes Jaguars RB Travis Etienne Jr. the clear-cut No. 2 guy on the market, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Etienne pulls down $10 million per year.”
Would the Seahawks really go as high as $12-16 million per year for Walker after deciding not to tag him for $14.329 million?
Maybe if the contract is structured in a way that the first-year cap hit is far lower than that number and increases with much of it in years when there would be no guarantees.
More likely is that the Seahawks let him walk and explore other free agent and draft options to supplement what they have.
Every other running back on their roster is under contract for 2026.
Zach Charbonnet — who split time with Walker in the regular season — had surgery a week-and-a-half ago to repair an ACL injury suffered against the 49ers on Jan. 18. While coach Mike Macdonald said the prognosis for a quick return is better than initially thought, it’s still unclear when Charbonnet will return from an injury that typically requires a 9-10-month recovery.
They have George Holani, Kenny McIntosh, Cam Akers, Velus Jones Jr. and Jacardia Wright under contract for 2026.
After Walker and Etienne, the next five running backs on Pro Football Focus’ list of available free agents are: Rico Dowdle (Carolina), Tyler Allgeier (Atlanta), Najee Harris (Chargers), J.K. Dobbins (Denver) and Rachaad White (Tampa Bay).
All are among the top 43 free agents available, speaking to what is perceived to be a deep group of running backs available and one reason the Seahawks may feel confident they can replace Walker.
Tuesday, a few analysts pointed to Allgeier as a good fit. Allgeier is just 25 and has been productive in four years with the Falcons, much of the time operating in the same outside-zone system the Seahawks used successfully in 2025.
Another possibility is Brian Robinson of the 49ers, who played last year when new Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Fleury was the team’s run-game coordinator.
Barring a trade to move up in the draft, the Seahawks won’t have a chance to get the top-rated running back coming out of college — Jeremiyah Love of Notre Dame.
Love is the only running back regarded as sure to go in the first round, meaning the Seahawks would have their pick of the rest, if need be (UW’s Jonah Coleman, anyone?)
Tuesday’s news does not end Walker’s career with the Seahawks.
But it does put it on uncertain footing while illustrating that the team’s hope to “run it back” to take a shot at another Super Bowl title in 2026 with the same group won’t come without challenges.
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.