The first major domino to fall at the running back position was Kenneth Walker joining the Kansas City Chiefs.
Let's examine the fantasy football implications of this move for all sides involved.
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Kenneth Walker Fantasy Value With the Kansas City Chiefs
Kenneth Walker Career Stats
| Year | Att/Gm | RuYd/Gm | Rec/Gm | ReYd/Gm | TD | PPR/Gm | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 15.2 | 70.0 | 1.8 | 11.0 | 9 | 13.5 | RB17 |
| 2023 | 14.6 | 60.3 | 1.9 | 17.3 | 9 | 13.3 | RB20 |
| 2024 | 13.9 | 52.1 | 4.2 | 27.2 | 8 | 16.5 | RB12 |
| 2025 | 13.0 | 60.4 | 1.8 | 16.6 | 5 | 11.3 | RB29 |
Walker’s rushing usage per game trickled down over his rookie contract with Seattle.
Joining Kansas City with a huge payday, Walker should be thrust into one of the largest workloads of his career.
This past season, he was in a timeshare with Zach Charbonnet, who specifically cut into his touches near the goal line and in passing situations.
Walker set career lows with 29.7% of the snaps inside the five-yard line with only 7 touches from that area of the field.
Charbonnet played 74.3% of those snaps with 17 touches.
Walker played over 60% of the offensive snaps in just one game during the regular season before being thrust into a larger role after Charbonnet suffered a knee injury against the 49ers in Seattle’s first playoff game.
Walker immediately showcased his upside when given the keys to the backfield, reeling off 417 yards from scrimmage and 5 touchdowns on his way to a Super Bowl MVP over three postseason games.
Walker played 62.3%, 62.7%, and 65.3% of the snaps in those games.
For his career, Walker has averaged 17.5 fantasy points per game over the 26 games he has reached the 60% snap mark.
Those are mid-range RB1 totals at face value.
Even though the Chiefs have not had a productive backfield since Walker entered the NFL, their backs have averaged 15.5 fantasy points per game when reaching the 60% snap mark (the same 26 games).
Kenneth Walker Advanced Stats
| Year | YPC | Success% | Rn10+% | Stuff% | Long | 1D/Rsh | YBCt/Rsh | YAC/Rsh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.6 | 31.1% | 12.7% | 23.7% | 74 | 22.4% | 1.45 | 3.16 |
| 2023 | 4.1 | 37.9% | 11.0% | 21.5% | 45 | 21.0% | 1.20 | 2.91 |
| 2024 | 3.7 | 35.9% | 8.5% | 21.6% | 28 | 18.3% | 0.69 | 3.05 |
| 2025 | 4.6 | 34.4% | 14.9% | 19.0% | 55 | 20.8% | 1.64 | 3.00 |
Walker is still a volatile rusher, but it is not a secret that Kansas City needed to inject upside per touch in a backfield that has produced the lowest rate of explosive plays over the past two seasons.
Chiefs RBs Advanced Stats
| Year | YPC | Success% | Rn10+% | Stuff% | 1D/Rsh | YBCt/Rsh | YPCt/Rsh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.5 | 40.0% | 7.8% | 16.1% | 20.9% | 1.67 | 2.81 |
| 2023 | 4.1 | 33.8% | 8.2% | 17.6% | 23.6% | 1.33 | 2.74 |
| 2024 | 3.7 | 39.8% | 4.7% | 15.0% | 21.4% | 1.20 | 2.46 |
| 2025 | 3.7 | 39.6% | 6.5% | 13.4% | 26.2% | 1.09 | 2.62 |
Since Walker entered the NFL in 2022, he has rushed for 10 or more yards on 12.1% of his rushes.
The only running back with a higher rate on as many rushes over that same span is James Cook (12.5%).
In 2025, Walker ran for 10 or more yards on 14.9% of his runs, which was third in the NFL behind De’Von Achane (16.8%) and Blake Corum (15.9%).
Since Walker entered the league, Kansas City running backs have been last in the NFL in the rate of runs for 10 or more yards (6.8%).
Walker has 32 runs of 20 or more yards for his career (4th) with 7 touchdowns on those longer gains.
Kansas City running backs have 17 runs of 20-plus yards (2 touchdowns) over that stretch, which is 31st in the league.
Walker’s insertion into the Kansas City ecosystem should create the most advantageous layout he has worked with for creating explosives as well.
Since Walker entered the league, he has faced a light box (six or fewer defenders) on just 23.9% of his career runs (46th) and loaded boxes (eight or more defenders) on 43.2% (13th).
Last season, Walker had a 17.2% light box rate (38th out of 49 running backs with 100 or more attempts) and faced a heavy box on 49.3% of his runs (11th).
Facing all of those heavy boxes has played a role in Walker forcing the third most missed tackles since entering the league (82), behind Derrick Henry (114) and Josh Jacobs (101).
Walker has forced a missed tackle once every 11.0 rushes for his career.
Kansas City is last in the league in forced missed tackles (66) over that span in the running game, forcing a missed tackle once every 26.0 rushes (31st).
In the Patrick Mahomes era, Kansas City running backs have the league’s best light box rate (35.9%) and the lowest heavy box rate (29.2%).
That setup should help Walker transition from one of the run-heaviest offenses to the Chiefs' pass-heavy climate.
Last season, the Seahawks were last in the NFL in dropback rate (51.3%) while the Chiefs were third (64.8%).
The Chiefs have been first in dropback rate (65.1%) since Mahomes entered the league.
I believe we will see Kansas City run more with the addition of Walker, paired with the potential that Mahomes could come back slowly from a torn ACL to close last season.
This move pushes Walker into the mid-range RB1 field.
If there are any nits to pick with Walker pushing the front-end of the RB1 landscape, it will be his usage in the passing game.
Walker only ran a pass route on 37.4% of the dropbacks in his games played last season.
His career rate is 40.9% with a career high of 49% in 2024.
Pass protection has been a thorn in his side.
In 2025, he ranked 51st in run-blocking grade per Pro Football Focus.
Walker was even coming off the field for George Holani in pass spots after Charbonnet’s injury.
Kansas City has not thrown the ball to its backs a ton in recent seasons.
Mahomes is 22nd in running back target rate (16.3%) over the past two years, as their wide receiver room and Travis Kelce have gobbled up those shorter targets.