Walker leaves Seahawks running back cupboard bare

Published 9:29 am Tuesday, March 10, 2026

From Seahawks Super Bowl MVP to … gone.

In one month.

That — and more money than Seattle was willing to give — was all it took for Kenneth Walker to be an ex-Seahawk.

The Kansas City Chiefs struck an agreement with Walker to be their new lead running back on Monday, minutes into the NFL’s free-agency negotiating window.

Walker confirmed his agreement with the Chiefs on Monday morning. He becomes the fourth Super Bowl MVP in the modern era of NFL free agency that began in 1993 to leave his championship squad for a new team the following season.

The timing of the deal shows it began taking shape with Walker’s new agent David Canter at the Aura Sports Group at the league’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis two weeks ago. That’s despite a supposed moratorium on pending free agents talking to other teams until Monday at 9 a.m.

Seahawks general manager John Schneider got word in Indianapolis of how much Canter and Walker were seeking on the running back’s second NFL contract. Walker’s rookie deal expired Feb. 8, the day he rushed for 135 yards in Seattle’s 29-13 victory over New England in Super Bowl 60.

Walker said the day after the title game he wanted to return to Seattle.

As is often the case in NFL free agency, want didn’t match need. Walker plays the sport’s most injured position, with the shortest career span in the game. Still just 25, he needed to maximize his earnings now, at the height of his value while he’s in his physical prime.

Walker reportedly gets a three-year contract from Kansas City worth $43.05 million, up to a maximum of $45 million with bonuses. It includes $28.7 million guaranteed.

Schneider and the Seahawks had a number for Walker at an average annual value below that. That is, below the $14.2 million they would have committed to him for 2026 had they used their franchise tag to keep him. Schneider still has used the franchise tag only twice in 17 offseasons as Seattle’s GM.

The Chiefs gave Walker above that franchise-tag number, an average of at least $14.35 million.

And that’s why Walker’s no longer a Seahawk, four years after Seattle drafted him in the second round and made him its lead back as a rookie.

Kansas City wanted Walker, as it appears to be moving on from free-agent backs Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. Before the agreement with Walker, second-year back Brashard Smith was about the only semi-experienced rusher on K.C.’s roster for 2026.

According to Walker, Schneider and the Seahawks did not offer him a new contract at any time during last season. Walker said in August and again at the Super Bowl this month when The News Tribune asked him if the team had approached him about a new deal: “Not that I know of.”

It became likely Walker would be leaving in late January. That was when, the week of the NFC championship game in Seattle, Walker fired his agents and hired Canter and the Florida-based Aura Sports Group to represent him. The running back didn’t hire new agents to keep the status quo with the Seahawks. He wanted more.

He is getting more.

The Seahawks planned all this past season to audition Zach Charbonnet for a possible takeover of the lead-back role in 2026. Charbonnet shined in a job share that was partly to preserve Walker to get through all 17 games of the regular season. He did, playing a full season for the first time in his four years with the team.

But the job share privately irked Walker. He had 47% of the Seahawks’ offense snaps this past season, compared to Charbonnet’s 49%. Charbonnet was Seattle’s third-down and red-zone running back. He scored 12 rushing touchdowns. That was the most for the Seahawks since Marshawn Lynch in their last Super Bowl season of 2014.

The TNT asked Walker in San Jose, California, during Super Bowl week this month how he handled the 2025 season having the job share with Charbonnet in his contract year.

“How would you feel?” Walker said.

The Seahawks’ auditioning of Charbonnet for the lead role ended when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during Seattle’s divisional-playoff win over San Francisco in mid-January. The Seahawks don’t know when he will be back on the field, but it could be into next season.

It will be the final one of Charbonnet’s contract; Schneider drafted him in the same, second round one year after Seattle drafted Walker. Seahawks’ next at running back

Now Seattle may not have either of its two top running backs for the start of next season, in an offense based upon running the ball.

Kenny McIntosh has been a third back for Seattle. But he’s coming off his own torn ACL, sustained in training camp late last July. He was on injured reserve for all the 2025 season. McIntosh played in 17 games in 2024, after a rookie season that also ended on injured reserve.

The Seahawks ended this past season with George Holani, a 2024 undrafted free agent from Boise State, as the second back behind Walker in the Super Bowl. Former Rams lead back Cam Akers and running back Velus Jones Jr. were up from the practice squad to play in the Super Bowl.