The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl with Kenneth Walker III earning game MVP honors, something not accomplished by a running back since Terrell Davis. As it turned out, the Super Bowl was Walker’s last game with the Seahawks, who’s joining the Kansas City Chiefs on a lucrative free agent contract.
Walker has entered a rare club of players who’ve ended their season on a high note and then departed for another team.
Super Bowl MVPs to leave in free agency
Keeping in mind that unrestricted free agency as we know it has only been around
for 33 years, this is not a deep history, but it’s still a short list.
- Larry Brown, Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys went 0-fer against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1970s Super Bowls, but bested Pittsburgh in Super Bowl 30 in part because Larry Brown picked off two Neil O’Donnell passes. He went from a 12th round pick fighting to make the roster to earning a five-year, $12.5 million contract with the Oakland Raiders. Brown was so bad that he was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team and waived after two seasons, returning to the Cowboys shortly thereafter.
- Desmond Howard, Green Bay Packers. Howard was a Heisman Trophy winner at Michigan who never actually panned out as a wide receiver in the NFL. He did win Super Bowl 31 MVP with a monster day on special teams, including the dagger kick return touchdown against the New England Patriots. Howard later signed with the Oakland Raiders for two seasons and returned two more punts for touchdowns, but that’s surely not maximizing value for a four-year, $6-million contract. Howard returned to the Packers for a year.
- Dexter Jackson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You could’ve given Super Bowl 37 MVP to literally anyone on the Buccaneers defense, but the safety picked off two of Rich Gannon’s five passes and got game MVP honors after Tampa demolished the Oakland Raiders. Funnily enough, Jackson won the award before Dwight Smith pick-6’d Gannon for a second time. Jackson signed a five-year, $14 million deal with the Arizona Cardinals in 2003, but even after a six-interception season he was released in 2004 and went back to the Bucs.
The common theme among the previous three was that they returned to their previous teams. In terms of on-field productivity, Walker is the highest profile Super Bowl MVP to ever walk in free agency. Good luck to K9 in Kansas City!
