Seahawks spoil Kenneth Walker’s return to Seattle

Emmett Johnson stole the show today with 128 yards and a touchdown on five receptions. Johnson blew by the Broncos’ defense for a 73-yard touchdown, which alone would have been enough for a breakout performance. The good news for Walker drafters is that Johnson only carried the ball once. Walker also matched him in targets at five apiece. Walker is now coming off his two worst rushing performances of the year in tandem with the Chiefs’ first two losses. It’s safe to assume the two are related. With a down-bad Jets defense on deck, we fully expected Walker to get back on track as a top-end RB1 in Week 9.

The Chiefs once again leaned hard on the rushing attack, running the ball 24 times while attempting 30 passes on the day. Walker breezed through a lifeless LA defense from start to finish. On many of his carries Walker was not touched until he was five or six yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Walker, who accounted for 19 of the team’s 24 rushing attempts, is perhaps the most important player in fantasy football through Week 6. He’ll be an RB1 in Week 7 against his former mates in Seattle.

Walker found the end zone twice in 19 seconds in this one. After scoring on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter, Walker then broke free for a 22-yard run on his next play after the Chiefs recovered a fumbled kickoff by the Raiders. Walker’s longest run of the game was an explosive burst down the right sideline that saw him pick up 76 yards, but he was tackled at the Raiders eight-yard line and lost out on a scoring opportunity two plays later when Tyquan Thornton came down in the end zone with an eight-yard reception. Walker has now scored multiple touchdowns in three of four games this season and has 621 yards from scrimmage and seven total touchdowns. He’s been more than fantasy managers could have hoped for through the first four weeks, but they will have to manage without him next week as the Chiefs enter their bye week. He’ll be firmly in the RB1 mix in Week 6, however, when the Chiefs play host to the winless Chargers.

The two-touchdown outing was Walker’s second in three games as a Chief after he had only one such effort for the Seahawks last season. His 20 touches were a rather remarkable total seeing as the Chiefs were limited to 49 plays with the Dolphins attempting to play keep away. He was not efficient, but Patrick Mahomes was. That’s the new reality for defenses facing the Chiefs, as this is no longer a stop Mahomes at all costs team. You now have to pick your poison, which is going to lead to many more blow-up efforts for KWIII. Perhaps that will include Week 4 in Vegas against the Raiders.

Johnson has turned 14 touches into 103 scrimmage yards thus far. Evidently pleased with his fifth-round rookie, Reid wants to keep “allowing Emmett to grow,” in turn taking “a little bit of load off” starting RB Kenneth Walker. Reid notes that Walker wants the ball on every play and is not asking for a lighter workload, but Reid is seeking “a nice balance with those two in there,” which “keeps them even more fresh as the season goes on.” Walker, of course, remains an elite RB1. Johnson, however, should be rostered in all 12-team leagues as a high-upside bench stash that could return standalone value before long.

Walker has now notched 178 combined yards or more in each of his new team’s first two games to start the season. In addition to the gaudy yardage numbers, Walker saw 10 targets on 47 Patrick Mahomes pass attempts in the overtime victory, while accounting for all but four running back opportunities. His backfield opportunity share, touchdown equity, and pass game involvement make Walker a top-tier fantasy asset for those that invested a second-round pick in his services this offseason. The only micro-blemish on his record against the Colts was a sequence of carries at the end of the second quarter in which he was stuffed from the one-yard line on three straight plays, with the team eventually scoring on fourth down via a touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy. Walker remains a top-tier RB1 ahead of a road date with the much more forgiving Dolphins in Week 3.

Walker single-handedly out-gained the entire Denver offense on the evening as he was the clear point of emphasis in Patrick Mahomes’ first game back after tearing his ACL in 2025. He was fed seven carries on the team’s first nine offensive plays run from scrimmage, a drive that would result in a 15-yard Mahomes rushing touchdown on the team’s first possession. The highlight of the game for the explosive back was a 60-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-one, in which he bounced the football outside and dusted the secondary on his way to the end zone. He would add a receiving score on a “Kansas City Special” later in the game, taking a Mahomes shuttle pass to the end zone from two yards out to further bolster his counting stats. What’s more, walker played all but five offensive snaps in the first half with the game still within reason, highlighting a massive ceiling for the remainder of the season. Walker is a locked-in RB1 ahead of a Week 2 matchup against the Colts.

What is clear in the wake of the Chiefs waiving Emari Demercado is that they don’t really have another player that qualifies as a passing-down back besides Walker without squinting. The other backs they kept are Emmett Johnson, a Day 3 rookie, and Brashard Smith, a gadget player without enough size to really block. Perhaps the Chiefs will address this in street free agency ahead of the season, but as things stand, it certainly seems like Walker will be involved on all three downs.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid and QB Patrick Mahomes believe last season’s run game failed to make defenses respect their play-action run fakes. With Walker now on board, the Chiefs believe both the run game and play-action game will improve. The staff has catered to Walker by installing more plays from under center, which Walker prefers to shotgun. “One way Walker can help transform the offense,” per Taylor, “is by becoming a true dual-threat player.” Reid believes Walker’s “receiving skills and ability to make defenders miss” will allow Reid to incorporate “one of his favorite passing concepts: the variety of plays where a play-action fake to the running back is executed before a short screen pass is thrown back to the same running back.” Walker should be expected to handle a high-end, dual-threat workload. He is a locked-in RB1 with immense upside.

Walker was held out of practice recently because of the issue, but this seems to be as minor as it gets. It’s safe to assume Walker will be back at practice soon, likely without any limitations. Walker has been going at the top of the second round of fantasy drafts. This little injury scare shouldn’t move that ADP in the slightest. He remains a strong RB1 bet this year.