Witnessing this kind of running back in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform takes me back to my childhood as I watched Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson, and Jamaal Charles. But this time, the running game is paired with arguably the best quarterback in football history.
Can we take some time to appreciate just how good running back Kenneth Walker has been? Because this isn’t just a hot start. It’s one of the best four-game stretches to begin a season by a running back in the last two decades. Walker has 537
rushing yards and 621 yards from scrimmage. Both numbers currently lead the NFL.
He’s keeping some wildly impressive company.
His 537 rushing yards are the most by any player through the first four regular-season games since Arian Foster rushed for 539 yards for the Houston Texans in 2010. The only other running backs in the past 25 years to have more rushing yards at this point in the season than Walker were Jamal Lewis (Baltimore Ravens) and Stephen Davis (Carolina Panthers), who both did it in 2003.
Walker was always known for his big-play ability, but he’s taken it to another level with the Chiefs. He already has six carries of 20+ yards, matching Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor and Saquon Barkley’s total 20+ yard runs this season… combined.
The only other running backs in the past 15 years with six 20+ yard carries through the first four regular-season games were Derrick Henry (2024), Nick Chubb (2020), Matt Breida (2018), and Kareem Hunt (2017), according to Pro Football Reference.
Walker’s 267 rushing yards after first contact are the second-most in the Pro Football Reference database, which has tracked the statistic since 2018 (Leonard Fournette, 278 in 2019).
We could go on and on, but we don’t need to continue with the stat-off. The point is clear — it’s been a special start to the season for the Chiefs’ prized free-agent addition. He’s been every bit the game-changer the team hoped he’d be.
That’s good, because they’ve needed it. And that need is only growing more acute by the day.
The Chiefs’ pass protection showed its first signs of weakness over the past couple of games against the Miami Dolphins and Las Vegas Raiders. The Seattle Seahawks loom in a couple of short weeks. It remains to be seen if left tackle Josh Simmons will be available to stop the bleeding.
Wideout Tyquan Thornton had been the Chiefs’ most productive wide receiver through the first month of the season, and he’s now expected to miss most, if not all, of the regular season with a brutal ankle dislocation. We’ll see when Rashee Rice is able to return from his hamstring injury, but typically wide receivers don’t immediately return to the field with a soft tissue issue like the one he experienced against the Raiders.
All of this points to a heavier workload for Walker in the coming weeks. He’s handled it thus far. His next touch will be his 100th of the season. If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is.
From 2021-2025, only five other players had as many touches through their first four games of the regular season as Walker’s had this season: Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, Saquon Barkley, and Christian McCaffrey. Those are all legitimate workhorse backs. Walker has never finished with more than 260 touches in an individual season.
Can he hold up to that kind of workload?
He better.
This is not the first time head coach Andy Reid has leaned heavily on a running back. He did so with Kareem Hunt in 2017 during his rookie year when Hunt finished that year with 325 touches and led the league in rushing. Brian Westbrook finished his 2007 season for the Eagles with nearly 370 touches in 15 games while leading the league in yards from scrimmage.
It’s true Reid has not traditionally been a coach who leans heavily into the running game, but he’s more than happy to keep the running back involved both on the ground and through the air when his team needs it and when the back’s talents demand the ball.
That certainly fits the Chiefs’ current situation.
I would be surprised if the Chiefs don’t add reinforcements to the passing game eventually. Health will help, and an outside addition or two feel inevitable. In the meantime, this will likely remain the Kenneth Walker show. It’s been a heck of a watch so far. I hope it can continue.
