Walker III powers Seattle offense to win SB MVP
Matthew Berry, Jay Croucher and Connor Rogers discuss the impact of Kenneth Walker III in the Seattle Seahawks run game to earn him MVP and debate why the Seahawks should and could keep him as a pending free agent.
Video Transcript
By the way, the other, the other big issue on the other side of the ball, we've just kept talking about Drake May here, but let's talk about the Seahawks for a second.
that Seahawks offense, according to PFF, Patriots' defense had 17 missed tackles in the Super Bowl.
That was a season high, and so I mean, like And especially, you know, for all the prowess of, like, "Hey, listen, this is a great run defense," meaning this, the Patriots.
Patriots have this amazing run defense, especially with Milton Williams.
You know, every, you know, they haven't given up I think, think the, the stat was whatever, whatever Ken Walker's rushing line was, I think it was 79.
I think it closed at 79 and a half.
Like, they had Mil- in a game in which Milton Williams was active, they hadn't given that number up all season long to a running back.
And obviously, you know, Walker goes for, you know, over 100, well over 100.
And so, you know, those outside runs were so effective.
They were able to get outside, and the just the pursuit wasn't there, just the, you know, q- again, credit Clint Kubiak, cl- credit the Seahawks here, offense here, but the defense, the Patriots' defense didn't show up, I think, the way they were expecting it to.
I know they, they shut them down when they got to the red zone, a lot of field goals, but ultimately, which was, by the way, one of my, also one of the legs, no pun intended, of my parlay was Jason Myers to kick two field goals, which obviously happened three times.
Yeah.
He hit that bet three different times.
Yeah.
Yeah, Matthew, you brought up that, you know, part of the core of this Patriots team was the fundamentals, and some of that evapo- and it's gonna happen when you just play a better opponent, and we saw that.
Kenneth Walker consistently creating his own yards, 27 carries, 135 yards, two receptions.
Sorry, Matthew, should've had three.
Hit him right in the hands.
Got four targets, too.
I mean, that's what's so frustrating.
He'd hit it- The thought process was correct.
He hit it in four of the last five.
He'd hit it in both playoff games.
Obviously, it's since Charbonnet.
I knew that he was gonna be out there, like, a ton.
He got four targets: one hit him in the chest, and he dropped it; one, Darnold threw at his feet when he was a little bit under pressure.
But, like, you think, right, you know, if he's gonna get four targets, he probably gets there with three receptions, given the fact that, you know, these aren't long passes.
Like, any pass to Ken Walker is gonna be a little five-yard dump off.
So yes, very bitter about that, very That was my Barry's bet.
Ended a nine-game win streak on that.
But, my other bets that I gave out, Cooper Kupp over in the receiving yards, Matt Collins over the receiving yards, those both cashed.
on the Olympic side, I gave out, the first half under, I gave out Ken Walker over on the rushing attempts.
Those all hit.
I did a thing, a DraftKings thing for the Olympics.
So, overall, a very good Super Bowl for me, but yes, the Ken Walker two receptions, ugh, ugh, just a, just a killer.
But Walker was amazing, guys, and I think this is where you're headed, Connor, so I'll turn it back and ask you guys, what is the m- he's now, he, he wins Super Bowl MVP, cashes at plus 850. my question to you is, he's now a free agent, and what do the Seahawks do, right?
Like, where does, where does he A- Alan Graft X says, "Way too early, but where does K. Will the Third, where does KW 3 go in drafts next year?"
And do you think the Seahawks franchise tag him?
Do they bring him back?
Like, Super Bowl MVP.
Like, I think the thought was at the beginning of the season or even the middle of the season that, "Hey, with Charbonnet, maybe they move on, let Charbonnet become the lead, and they'll add to the backfield," you know, whether it's free agency with some depth or the draft.
But I don't know how you let Ken Walker, after winning you a Super Bowl, walk out that door, especially given how brutal that injury was to Zach Charbonnet.
At a minimum, you have to franchise tag him and work on an extension, right?
And you brought up the Charbonnet injury, Matthew, that even further re-emphasizes the point, that, you know, you tear your ACL in January, what is that gonna look like for a running back?
Are you just gonna be full throttle in, in August camp?
No.
You're ramping him up in the middle of the season.
Even on an early rehabilitation scale, you can't predict what that And this team is so run-heavy, even with Kubiak moving on to the Raiders.
They're not gonna change the identity of who they are.
So I, I think Kenneth- I think there's a highly, a high likelihood that the two running backs we're most excited about in free agency, in Kenneth Walker and Breece Hall, end up hit with the franchise tag or the transition tag.
Because that number is so low, there's really no such thing as a bad one-year deal.
Running backs can fall off a cliff at any given moment, so you'd rather pay them on the one years, but for a little bit more per year than the multi-years of guaranteed money.
So Jay, I just, I don't s- and here's the little kicker here that's unbelievable in this, Jay.
Seattle has a ton of cap space.
They're a Super Bowl winner with a ton of cap space going into next year.
This is one of I mean, John Schneider is who he is for a reason, right?
But this is one of the more amazing facts about this roster right now.
They're not going anywhere.
Yeah.
And the thing is, too, is that I think there's this, there's this perception, certainly after the fact, that, you know, the Patriots are here a bit ahead of their time, and, they've overachieved massively.
Seahawks had a lower win total than the Patriots coming into this season.
This was a bridge year for Seattle.
They just won the Super Bowl, in a bridge year where their win total was seven and a half.
They were, a distant fourth favorite to win their own division.
And as it relates to Ken Walker, I think if he yep- 'cause it, it feels like he's been around for a while.
He's 25 years old.
This is year four, and he finally had Well, he had his moment on the biggest stage, but he's always been someone that the advanced stats have always loved.
He's always been, an elite running back by PFF grade.
He's the number one running back in the whole NFL across the whole season by PFF grade this year.
He's top seven, each of the past three seasons.
And to your point, Connor, there's no real alternative, because this team just runs the ball so much.
And as much as JSN, who wins Offensive Player of the Year, who is certainly the star and the best player on this offense, as much as he is the best player on the offense, this is a team that is built around Clint Kubiak's run scheme and play action off of that, and it requires, a lot of running the ball.
And Ken Walker is, is certainly the most talented guy that they could get, in free agency.
So yeah, I would suspect that they just, they just bring him back.
and then, as always is the case with Ken Walker, you just hold your breath and hope that he stays healthy.
