Kenneth Walker III might just be the missing piece to another golden trio in Kansas City Chiefs history alongside Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Through just two weeks of the NFL season, Walker has been torching defenses left, right and center—and suddenly, Kansas City looks like a whole different beast.
The Chiefs are officially becoming a problem for the rest of the league. Rejoice, Red Kingdom—we finally have a run game! And yes, I say that with all the pride of a Chiefs fan.
Kansas City is so back. The offense is starting to look a whole lot like the Chiefs we’ve grown used to seeing: Mahomes making magic, Kelce doing Kelce things, and now Walker forcing defenses to rethink how they attack the QB and to respect the ground game.
Kenneth Walker Has Changed the Equation for the Chiefs
Colin Cowherd is officially sounding the alarm on the Chiefs this season—and Nick Wright has just one response: “I told you so!” The Herd podcast took to Instagram to share a snippet from its latest episode, where Cowherd admitted he may have jumped the gun on Kansas City’s early-season struggles. “When we look at Kansas City, I made a mistake. I forgot one of my own rules. A healthy Mahomes and Andy Reid, the rebuilds are like six games. Sometimes I should listen to me,” Cowherd said.
And Wright? Well, he wasn’t exactly going to let that one slide. “Listen to me! I told you all offseason!” Wright fired back, pointing to Walker III as the offseason addition he believed could change everything for Kansas City.
He argued that the Chiefs’ new-look run game has forced defenses to approach Mahomes differently—and that shift was on full display against the Colts.
For years, defenses could sell out to stop Mahomes and essentially dare Kansas City to beat them on the ground. But with Walker now ripping off explosive runs, that luxury may be gone. As Wright put it, Indianapolis had to spend more time worrying about the running back than simply building its game plan around containing Mahomes through the air.
And that changes the entire equation.
Did Kenneth Walker Just Solve the Chiefs’ Biggest Problem?
Walker III followed up his explosive debut against the Denver Broncos with another statement performance Sunday night, racking up 117 rushing yards against Indianapolis. That made him the first Chiefs player since Larry Johnson in 2005 to record consecutive games with at least 175 yards from scrimmage.
And the impact goes way beyond the box score. “Defenses have to account for that,” Mahomes said of Kansas City’s newfound ground game. “If not, we’re going to run the ball for 200 yards, or whatever we did the week before.”
That’s the beauty of having a legitimate rushing attack: defenses can’t just sell out to stop Mahomes anymore. They have to respect Walker, which opens up the play-action game, creates more favorable looks downfield and gives Coach Reid another way to attack.
The numbers are backing it up, too.
After spending nearly a decade among the NFL’s offensive elite, Kansas City slipped to 21st in total offense last season while averaging just over 320 yards per game. Through two weeks this year? The Chiefs are averaging a league-best 457.5 yards per game.
They also cracked the 500-yard mark Sunday night for the first time since the 2022 season. That’s a pretty dramatic turnaround.
For a Chiefs offense that spent years living and dying by Mahomes’ right arm, having a back who can gash defenses on the ground and make them pay through the air could be the missing ingredient.
Main Image: Denny Medley-Imagn Images
