{"id":499438,"date":"2026-03-02T14:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/499438\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T14:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:49:10","slug":"rb-kenneth-walker-iii-likely-to-leave-seattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/499438\/","title":{"rendered":"RB Kenneth Walker III Likely To Leave Seattle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III<\/a>\u00a0is just three weeks removed from being named Super Bowl LX MVP, but he won\u2019t get to revel in the glory for too much longer as he\u2019s set to hit free agency upon the expiration of his rookie contract in Seattle. According to ESPN\u2019s Dan Graziano, Walker is reportedly generating so much outside interest<\/a> that he could be pricing himself right out of Seattle. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, reasonably, one might question whether the Seahawks would allow their leading rusher in each of the past four seasons to walk in free agency, but there\u2019s plenty to point to in order to explain how it might be the best situation for everyone. To start, Walker\u2019s health has been an issue in the past. He missed two games in each of his first two years in Seattle and missed six games over the course of the 2024 season. While he bucked that trend in Year 4 by appearing in every game for the first time in his career, the Seahawks have been burned in the past by frequently injured running backs like Chris Carson<\/a> and Rashaad Penny<\/a>, and they may see Walker\u2019s injury history as too risky to invest in long-term.<\/p>\n

Secondly, a year after Seattle drafted Walker in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the team went back to the same well, selecting second-round UCLA rusher Zach Charbonnet<\/a>. Walker\u2019s frequent injuries gave Charbonnet eight spot starts in his first two seasons of play, and he showed plenty of promise as a potential lead back in the opportunities he was given. Though Walker played in (and started) every game this season, Charbonnet continued to see increasing opportunities, posting career-highs in carries (184) and rushing yards (780) while leading the team with 12 rushing touchdowns. While Walker would certainly be missed, the Seahawks may be ready to pass the rock to Charbonnet.<\/p>\n

The third factor would simply be price. Graziano believes that the Cowboys set the floor for the starting running back market when they extended Javonte Williams<\/a> on a three-year, $24MM deal<\/a>. He lists Walker as one of three backs who could surpass that annual average value of $8MM, citing increasing external interest as the driving factor. While the Seahawks\u2019 salary cap puts them in a good position to spend in 2026, the franchise hasn\u2019t invested long-term in a running back since the days of Marshawn Lynch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Looking at all the factors together, it\u2019s not looking good for fans that want to see the Seahawks run in back with their Super Bowl MVP. Retaining Walker would require Seattle to commit long-term money, and the combination of Walker\u2019s injury history and Charbonnet\u2019s capability make that option seem less than prudent. Instead, it appears that Walker could earn a big payday to try and take another team to the Super Bowl, while the Seahawks will get a good look at Charbonnet as RB1 as Charbonnet puts forth his best foot in a contract year for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III\u00a0is just three weeks removed from being named Super Bowl LX MVP, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[68070,349,8852,99,96365],"class_list":["post-499438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-kenneth-walker","tag-nfl","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-sports","tag-zach-charbonnet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}