Seahawks had ridiculous plans for Kenneth Walker III before he left for Chiefs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Seattle Seahawks had a very interesting decision to make with running back and Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III this past offseason. Instead of re-signing him or franchise-tagging him, the Seahawks just let Walker leave for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Walker has since broken out as one of the premier running backs in the NFL, putting up Offensive Player of the Year numbers so far. With Week 7 upon the NFL, the Seahawks will face Walker, which brought about an update on why he left in the first place.
ESPN's Brady Henderson and Nate Taylor shared two plans the Seahawks had with Walker, both of which look completely ridiculous in hindsight with his dominance in Kansas City.
Seahawks had ridiculous plans for Kenneth Walker III in free agency
One of the decisions this Seahawks team made that led Walker to leave in free agency was that "they were only willing to go as high as roughly $10 million per season to re-sign him in March," Henderson and Taylor write.
This was not a small contract, but compared to the three-year deal Walker signed with the Chiefs at $14.35 million per season, the $10 million from Seattle looks puny in comparison.
That's already a bit frustrating, but it's hardly the worst part. Henderson and Taylor also shared that the Seahawks, somehow, planned not to make Walker the feature back.
"Even if the Seahawks were willing to match Kansas City's contract, the Chiefs were offering something Seattle hadn't -- a chance to be featured," Taylor and Henderson write.
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The ESPN duo also shared that the Seahawks "did not want to pay that kind of money to a back who they would have preferred to again use in a timeshare."
Despite Walker winning Super Bowl MVP and putting up his 313 rushing yards on 65 attempts with four touchdowns, plus nine receptions on 11 targets for 104 yards during the playoffs, the Seahawks planned to put him in a timeshare again.
Clearly, with how Walker has dominated in 2026 with the Chiefs, rushing for 665 yards at 6.3 yards per carry, the best marks in the NFL for both, that would've been a foolish decision.
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Why would they have done that? Well, "the team's decision-makers had reservations about his availability dating to his rookie season, according to sources familiar with the team's thinking," Taylor and Henderson wrote.
This Seahawks team didn't re-sign Walker as they were worried about his health, and didn't want to spend more to bring him back, especially with the full intention of splitting him with Zach Charbonnet in this backfield.
Considering how great he's been with Kansas City, and how dominant he was during the playoffs, the Seahawks' plan with Walker looks ridiculous in hindsight.
He has a chance to prove them wrong further in Week 7, as he faces his former team on Sunday Night Football in what should be an exciting primetime matchup.
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