Most teams would at least make their Super Bowl MVP a contract offer. The Seahawks made Kenneth Walker III exactly zero of them.
The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar reported Wednesday that Seattle never made Walker an offer before free agency, citing league sources, per Seattle Sports [1]. Dugar wrote that Walker “effectively priced himself out of Seattle.” Within the opening hour of the legal tampering period in March, reports had him agreeing to join Kansas City on a three-year, $43.05 million deal.
That would be a fine little footnote if Walker were struggling. He is not struggling.
The receipts
Walker leads the NFL with 665 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns on 106 carries, averaging 6.3 yards a pop. The Chiefs are 5-0 and have already had their bye. Kansas City has handed him 22 or more carries in three of five games and at least 18 in every one.
Compare that to his usage in Seattle. Last season the Seahawks gave him 20 or more carries in exactly one of 20 games. That one game was the Super Bowl, where he ran 27 times for 135 yards and won MVP against New England. So the one time they fed him, they won a title. Lesson received, apparently not.
Meanwhile, Seattle is 3-3 and its run game ranks 18th in the league at 107.2 yards per game and 3.9 yards per carry. The Seahawks signed Emanuel Wilson as a stopgap and drafted Jadarian Price in the first round, but Price is on IR with a chest injury.
Walker sounded like he saw it coming. Back in May he told Mike Florio, “Things ain’t work out how I was expecting it to, and that’s all right.”
Macdonald gets the awkward question
Of course, the schedule makers have a sense of humor. The Seahawks get Walker and the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football this week, which means Mike Macdonald spent Wednesday answering questions about the guy who got away.
“He’s off to a tremendous start,” Macdonald said. “The stats back it up; tape definitely backs it up. He’s playing great football.”
He kept it classy, too. “I love Ken. I thoroughly enjoyed him being on our football team,” Macdonald said. “We appreciate the heck out of him. He got a Super Bowl MVP, helped us win a championship.”
And then the honest part: “I think there’s mixed emotions in terms of, like, you’re happy for him, but also, hey, we’re trying to figure out ways to stop this guy, too, because he’s playing at a really high level.”
Fair enough. Nobody in Seattle is mad about the ring. They might be a little mad about watching their old running back run through their own defense in prime time. The Seahawks allow 3.9 yards per carry, which ranks 15th. Walker is averaging 6.3. Somebody start the projector.
<p><em>Originally published at <a href=”https://ballsandbanter.com/nfl/the-seahawks-never-offered-kenneth-walker-a-contract-now-he-leads-the-nfl-in-rushing-and-sees-them-sunday-night/”>Balls & Banter</a>.</em></p>