Will Chiefs commit to run game with Walker?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss Kenneth Walker III reportedly signing with the Kansas City Chiefs and question how the running back will impact the team's offense and role of Travis Kelce.
Video Transcript
Tuesday edition of PFT Live, March the 10th.
Free agency frenzy continues, and one of the names that we were keeping a close eye on, in the tradition of Larry Brown, Desmond Howard, and Dexter Jackson, the Super Bowl MVP, would he be walking out the door as a free agent in the next cycle?
Kenneth Walker III, no tags from the Seahawks.
One of the fairly early deals that was done.
Yeah.
Walker to the Chiefs.
Now, I've seen different This is one of those where when the initial reports were out there And we know, folks, w- we, we, we, we know the game.
The agents send the group text to the reporters, who will then tweet the free ad for the agents.
I mean, that's what it is.
It's a free ad on all the Twitter platforms.
So and so, per source, deal negotiated by this guy.
So, when all that went out yesterday, there were no numbers at first.
There were no numbers.
And any time the numbers aren't part of the initial report, mm-hmm, let's be very skeptical of the actual reports when the numbers come out.
Now, worth up to 45, up to does plenty of work this time of year because it means it's not really worth that.
If he hits all the incentives and escalators, that's what it's worth, and it sounds really good, so let's just say up to 45 million.
And then I saw 43.05 million guaranteed on a three-year deal, so what does that make?
That makes it about 14- 14 and change and change.
Yeah.
So I, I wanna, I wanna see This is one of those where I wanna see all the nooks and all the crannies of the deal.
I wanna see where the real is, I wanna see where the bull crap is because, you know, Kenneth Walker III was the Super Bowl MVP.
By all rights, he should be getting big money.
But we know how the running back position is.
Small handful are special, and they're gonna get 20 or close to it.
Everybody else who's good is gonna be fighting for whatever they can get.
Like, the best of the best, other than the superstars, are gonna be in the range of 10, 12, 14, and let's see how it all shakes out.
But I'm very curious, I'm very skeptical.
You know, it's one of those where, you know, they kind of think we're stupid, that they can hide this.
We're gonna find out at some point what the numbers are, and, it's on my list of things to do.
Yeah, I'll be interested to see what they are.
I, I mean, as it sits right now, 14 million a year, you go, okay, that's probably about the class he deserves to be.
you talked about the special ones, McCaffrey, Barkley, Derrick Henry in front of him, but then comes the Kenneth Walker as we know it.
But yeah, and if it is 14 million, I go, well, that's, that's pretty good.
I mean, a guy, again, who maybe is a little less of a proven commodity than a guy like James Cook, who he's gonna make more money than, than James Cook per year, or a Josh Jacobs, who have been thousand yard rushers, like, year after year the last few years.
So that, that'll b- would I'll be interested to see too, Mike, I'm with you, what those real numbers are.
But damn, he's a good player.
We know that.
We've talked about him.
He can score from anywhere, anytime, any place, also can be a bell cow running back.
The Chiefs, they need offensive play makers.
They, they Are they gonna change the way they play with Eric Bieniemy as the offensive coordinator?
Is it gonna be a little more emphasis on the run game and run game schematics?
I'll be interested in that too.
Did Eric Bieniemy learn something from Ben Johnson in Chicago and go, "Ooh, wait, I like what he does in this run game.
I'm gonna steal some of this"?
I hope so.
They need something else in Kansas City.
Kansas City, Travis Kelce's the man, we're gonna talk about him in a minute, but he can't lead your team in receptions and yards again and be the number one guy.
If he does, there's a problem with your team in Kansas City, everybody.
That should not go hand-in-hand, Kelce, last game of his, last year of his career, number one weapon on our team still.
That does not mean you have a great offense.
So, you know, hopefully Kenneth Walker can help that out here a little bit.
Yeah, Travis Kelce leading the team in receiving- Targets, receptions yardage.
Yeah.
And- Right and more than a few games where Patrick Mahomes is leading the team in rushing- Totally and he actually came in third- Mm-hmm 40 yards behind Isiah Pacheco last year.
That's not good for anybody.
No.
So it does speak to, the investment speaks to a desire to commit to the running game, and it's smart to do that with Patrick Mahomes coming off of the torn ACL, limit his, his, running around with his hair on fire trying to find somebody open down the field until that thing is healed a little bit more, and Walker lets him do it.
The other reality is this, and I didn't say this yesterday.
Yeah.
But the thing about free agency, and this dovetails with the Malik Willis conversation, because the Dolphins made a beeline for a guy that they know, based on their two years together in Green Bay.
You are, as free agency unfolds, witnessing a situation where a team that knows a guy better than anyone is letting him go.
That in and of itself is a red flag.
The fact that that team hasn't already re-signed the player, especially for a f- a, a first-round pick who had five years.
You had five years with the guy, and you didn't re-sign him.
That alone is cause for wondering what's up with this guy.
And look, the Seahawks, they didn't wanna overpay for Walker.
I get it.
They overpaid for Shaun Alexander 20 years ago, and they regretted it a year later.
But man, and remember when they got the word out the first day of the franchise tag window, the first day that, that they were unlikely to tag- Mm-hmm Kenneth Walker, and then they got it out again the last day.
They wanted the fans to understand what was going on here.
Don't be disappointed when this guy walks away.
We have a plan.
I don't know what it is.
But I, I, I'm just very curious to see how the Chiefs are gonna use him, and is he gonna play there now that he's gotten the security, like he did down the stretch for the Seahawks?
All right, we mentioned Kelce.
You alluded to him.
We talked about it yesterday.
If there was anything possibly going on, I mean, to the extent there was a showdown between The Athletic and the Associated Press, AP wins this round, 'cause Kelce wasn't leaving.
It was all just talk.
It was all just smoke.
Yeah.
One year, 12 million, and he was, he was never gonna leave.
He was just You know, I think it was agent talk trying to get the Chiefs- Totally to get a little bit higher.
Yeah.
And maybe they did.
Yeah.
They, they, you know, I think, you know, they, they, they called his bluff, kind of little what we said there.
"Oh yeah, you really wanna go somewhere?
You wanna go to the Browns?
They'll pay you a little bit more.
You wanna move to Cleveland, see how that goes at the end of your career?"
I think they found the sweet spot.
He'd crap in Cleveland.
Yeah, I know.
I'm just saying.
I think he'll be fine.
Yeah.
He'll be fine wherever he goes.
it, it's just, it, hey, we I don't think he wants to go out like that.
He wants to go out with the team- Right that, you know, is, he's been a part of.
And he said right when the year was over last year, like, "I don't know if I can go out like that."
Like, it just was a, the bad year without his homie in, in Patrick Mahomes playing quarterback with him.
I mean, it was a disaster.
The worst year of the Chiefs and, and Travis Kelce of, of his tenure there.
but yeah, I think they found the sweet spot as far as paying him 12 million.
That's what he's worth.
He's a legend in the organization.
But like I said, he can't be the focal point of the offense anymore.
That's gotta change.
If he's the focal point of the offense, then yes, there's deeper issues in Kansas City, and we'll see where that goes.
But I think Kenneth Walker's gonna fix some of that, for sure.
Well, Walker's making more than Kelce, so maybe And see, that's what's so fascinating about this.
Will the Chiefs do it?
Will Andy Reid do it?
Will they commit to it?
'Cause we, "Oh, hey, they're gonna commit to the run," and then it's pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.
Are they truly gonna make a week-in-and-week-out commitment to the running game, and will Kenneth Walker III hold up for 17 games if that's what the Chiefs
