After rushing for over 100 yards, catching three passes, scoring three touchdowns, and then trolling Tom Brady, Kenneth Walker III has to feel like he’s on top of the world.
As Seattle’s starting running back, Walker has rushed for over 1,000 yards this season, the second time in his four-year career that he’s reached that impressive mark. He’s also only had one season of fewer than 900 yards in his career. The Spartans legend is really making a name for himself in the NFL.
That was never more true than on Saturday when he accounted for 145 total yards and three touchdowns in a 41-6 NFC Divisional playoff win over the 49ers. He was the star of one of the most dominant performances in the past decade.
Walker’s stock is skyrocketing in the final games of a contract year, but he may have just become the most important player on the best team in the NFC just weeks before the Super Bowl.
An injury just made Kenneth Walker III even more important
While the most important player on any team is obvious the quarterback, Walker may now hold that distinction behind Sam Darnold. He’s arguably become the most important non-quarterback on the best team in the NFC right before playing in the conference championship against the Rams.
With an injury to Zach Charbonnet during the win over San Francisco, Walker’s importance just doubled. To make matters worse for Seattle, Charbonnet has already been diagnosed with a torn ACL.
It’s all on Walker to carry the run game on his back. Outside of Charbonnet and Walker, no Seahawk had over 100 rushing yards. Darnold was third on the team in rushing and George Holani had just 22 carries for 73 yards. Without Charbonnet, he now becomes the backup to Walker. That means K9 is going to dominate the workload against the Rams and potentially in the Super Bowl.
Without him, Seattle becomes one-dimensional and Darnold struggles. For that reason alone, Walker’s health and effectiveness now become the main storyline for the Seahawks as they approach another Super Bowl appearance.