Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III (9) signs autographs
Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images
On a night where everything that could go right for the Kansas City Chiefs did go right, it was running back Kenneth Walker III who emerged as the biggest star of the team following their 31-10 victory over the Denver Broncos in their season-opener. Walker drew plenty of attention after he carried the ball for 60 yards en route to a touchdown that essentially sealed the game for Kansas City, and he finished with a total of 173 yards on the night on 23 carries.
After just one week, Walker is leading the league in total rushing yards. Now, Robert Griffin III is already calling the Chiefs' signing of Walker as the best one of this past offseason.
Walker was already a star for the Seattle Seahawks, even winning Super Bowl MVP honors after leading Seattle to a 29-13 win over the New England Patriots. But the Seahawks did not have room to re-sign Walker, and that paved the way for the Chiefs to swoop in with a three-year, $43.05 million contract.
This made Walker the ninth-highest paid running back in the NFL (in terms of annual average value), which seems to be a fair price to pay for someone who won the Super Bowl MVP award following the Seahawks' 29-17 win over the New England Patriots in the big game.
With Patrick Mahomes not being at his best yet in his return from the serious knee injury that he sustained back in December, the Chiefs having this new dimension to work with makes his signing all the more important. Monday night marked the first time since 2016 that the Chiefs have recorded a total of 200 or more rushing yards in a single game at home.
It's too early to tell just how sustainable Walker's level of success with the Chiefs truly is. His 60-yard touchdown run did a lot to pad his total yardage on the season, and that's not gonna happen every week.
But Walker has a history of showing up on the grand stage, recording 135 yards on 27 carries in their Super Bowl triumph. He's only 25 years of age, so Walker has plenty of room to grow still.
And in this first game for the Chiefs, he showed the ability to take on quite a heavy rushing workload, and the threat he provides the team with gives them another offensive dimension to utilize — making him a hand and glove fit in Kansas City. At least after one game, the signing of Walker is looking like a true game-changer for Kansas City, and the best move of this past offseason.