Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is not surprised by running back Kenneth Walker’s outstanding start to the season.
In the first four games, the Super Bowl LX MVP had 537 rushing yards and 4 scores, including two outings with more than 170 yards. His presence has elevated the Chiefs offense and helped them start the season 4–0.
Reid said this week that he knew Walker would perform at this level.
“I would tell you not really, because we thought he did well, especially when they [the Seattle Seahawks] had to turn everything over to him during the playoffs,” Reid said at a press conference on Monday. “We saw his whole game there, and now we’re just seeing it on an extended basis where he comes in, and he’s been able to showcase all that.”
The Seahawks drafted Walker in the 2nd round of the 2022 NFL Draft. With the Seahawks, he formed a thunder-and-lightning tandem with Zach Charbonnet.
Walker took control of the offense for the rest of the team’s Super Bowl run after Charbonnet tore his ACL in the Divisional Round of the playoffs in January.
He finished that game with 119 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns, and he finished the playoff run with 65 carries for 313 yards and 4 TDs, plus 11 receptions for 104 yards. Walker finished the Super Bowl with 27 carries for 135 yards; it was the most rushing yards in a Super Bowl since Terrell Davis in Super Bowl XXXII in 1998, and Walker became the first running back since Davis to win MVP.
Walker signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the Chiefs in free agency. He opened the season with 23 rushes for 173 yards and a touchdown, and 3 catches for 18 yards and another score in the Chiefs’ 31–10 win over the Denver Broncos.
He followed that with 24 carries for 117 yards and 6 catches for 61 yards in their 33–30 overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts. In week 4, he carried the ball 22 times for 177 yards and 2 scores, with a 2-yard reception in K.C.’s 30–27 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
In four games with K.C., Walker has already racked up 87 carries for 537 yards and 4 touchdowns, along with 12 receptions for 84 yards and 2 touchdowns. He is on pace to exceed 2,282 yards on the season, which would shatter the NFL’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards set by Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. At the team level, his presence has elevated the Chiefs from 25th in rushing offense last year to fourth this year.
Walker may not be the only running back to make history this season.
Asked on Sunday whether he is chasing the single-season touchdown record set by Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson, Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs said, “Yeah, I’m trying to get that.”
Tomlinson set it with the San Diego Chargers in 2006; that same year, he set the rushing touchdown record with 28.
Over five games, Gibbs has 7 rushing TDs and 2 passing TDs, averaging 1.8 TDs per game; extrapolating that to 17 games, he would finish with 30.6 TDs, roughly tying the record. He’s unlikely to break the rushing TDs record unless he picks up the pace: his 7 scores on the ground average 1.4 per game; he’d finish with 23.8.
Gibbs scored two TDs on Sunday, both from just outside the goal line. He had a chance for a third: At the end of the third quarter on 2nd and goal, he ran to the right side but was stopped for no gain. On the next play, quarterback Jared Goff ran a sneak up the middle for a score.
Gibbs accomplished a historic feat on Sunday.
His two touchdowns brought his career total to 57, breaking the league record for the most touchdowns by a player under 25. Hall of Famer and Lions legend Barry Sanders previously held the record.
