Kenneth Walker III had a historic season opener on Monday Night Football

Michigan State fans knew just how good Kenneth Walker III was going to be in the NFL while some random Michigan fans ”weren’t sure if he would translate” to the league.

Shocker: Michigan State fans were right.

The former Michigan State running back just had his debut with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football against the Broncos and, by all accounts, Denver has one of the better defenses in the NFL. If you didn’t know that going into the game and you watched Walker rush for over 170 yards, you would have had assumed the Broncos had one of the league’s worst defenses.

Not the case.

Instead, K9 had a historic season opener against the Broncos, rushing for a league-leading 173 yards and a touchdown on just 23 carries. He averaged 7.5 yards per carry. On top of that, he caught three passes for 18 yards and another score. Walker had 191 total yards from scrimmage and two scores in his debut with the Chiefs.

It was truly a historic performance. Just how historic?

Walker’s 173 rushing yards in his Chiefs debut was the most of any running back in the first game with a new team since Michael Turner rushed for 220 in his Falcons debut in 2008. That’s right, he put up the most rushing yards in a debut of anyone in 18 years. On top of that, he forced 14 (!!) missed tackles in the effort which is the most of any Chiefs player since at least 2018. His nine forced missed tackles in the first half was the most of any Chiefs player in a full game since 2021.

His best play of the game came on a 4th-and-1 in the second half with the Chiefs up 14-7. It looked like he had no running room and then he did what he does best, juking to the left and cruising by the last two defenders who had a legit shot of catching him with his elite speed.

The Chiefs debut for the reigning Super Bowl MVP was about as good as you could ask for and he’s just getting started. If he continues this pace, he could break some NFL records this year.

People are done sleeping on Kenneth Walker III

Even after winning the Super Bowl MVP with the Seahawks and earning his first ring, Walker was projected as the 10th-best running back in fantasy football this year.

While fantasy football doesn’t mean anything when it comes to actual Xs and Os, it’s a good indicator of where experts see players in terms of production. Experts saw Walker as the 10th best running back in the league and he was treated as such in many drafts. He should have been treated as a top-five back because, well, that’s exactly what he is.

Jahmyr Gibbs is the best running back in the league and Bijan Robinson is up there, too, and even Derrick Henry is proving that age is just a number as a top-five back still. But Walker deserves to be in that conversation.

In Seattle, he would have been much more valued if he was given the carries that he deserved. Instead, he split carries with Zach Charbonnet for some reason and lost out on a lot of touchdowns because of it. It’s hard to say he was misused because he ended up winning the Super Bowl but he really broke out because Charbonnet was hurt and he had to carry the workload.

The fact that Charbonnet got hurt and Walker led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl should have been enough of a sign to the coaching staff that they misused him and he wasted no time finding a new home when the season was over and all the confetti at the Super Bowl parade had settled.

K9 has no regrets and he bet on himself — and won.

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