Kansas City signed Kenneth Walker, but let’s not kick Kareem Hunt to the curb just yet. I won’t be surprised at all if he re-signs there and has a meaningful role.
At 30, Hunt is at the tail end of his career. (Honestly, I can’t guarantee he’ll ever play in another NFL game.) But he’s a good short-yardage and goal-line runner. A lot better, in fact, than Walker in that regard.
Shockingly good, really. On 41 different occasions last year, Kansas City put the ball in Hunt’s hands, looking to punch out 1 yard at either the goal line, or in a third-and-one or fourth-and-one situation. Money yards. That’s 18 more carries than any other running back. (Also 16 more than the busiest such quarterback, Jalen Hurts.)
Hunt not only logged a lot of those carries last year, he was also successful on 35 of them. There were 30 running backs with at least 10 such carries last year, and Hunt was busier and statistically more effective than all of them.
Kenneth Walker, meanwhile, wasn’t used in those situations by the Seahawks. He had only 2 such carries all year (they plugged in Zach Charbonnet instead). Walker is kind of an unpredictable wild card, looking to bounce runs outside, while Charbonnet is better at just banging out the yards as they’re drawn up.
Hunt is a lot more like Charbonnet, so I could see KC using him as their primary goal-line back. That would hurt Walker’s value.
| RUNNING BACKS WITH 10-PLUS "AND ONE" CARRIES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | "Good" | Att | Pct |
| Kareem Hunt, K.C. | 35 | 41 | 85.4% |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 19 | 23 | 82.6% |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | 15 | 22 | 68.2% |
| Josh Jacobs, G.B. | 11 | 21 | 52.4% |
| Quinshon Judkins, Cle. | 13 | 20 | 65.0% |
| Derrick Henry, Balt. | 11 | 19 | 57.9% |
| Ashton Jeanty, L.V. | 7 | 19 | 36.8% |
| Javonte Williams, Dall. | 14 | 18 | 77.8% |
| Tyler Allgeier, Atl. | 12 | 18 | 66.7% |
| Woody Marks, Hou. | 10 | 18 | 55.6% |
| Christian McCaffrey, S.F. | 12 | 17 | 70.6% |
| Jaylen Warren, Pitt. | 11 | 16 | 68.8% |
| Jordan Mason, Min. | 8 | 15 | 53.3% |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 8 | 15 | 53.3% |
| Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 6 | 15 | 40.0% |
| Rico Dowdle, Car. | 11 | 14 | 78.6% |
| Sean Tucker, T.B. | 11 | 14 | 78.6% |
| Ollie Gordon, Mia. | 9 | 14 | 64.3% |
| Chris Rodriguez, Was. | 8 | 14 | 57.1% |
| Rachaad White, T.B. | 10 | 13 | 76.9% |
| D'Andre Swift, Chi. | 10 | 12 | 83.3% |
| David Montgomery, Det. | 9 | 12 | 75.0% |
| Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 9 | 12 | 75.0% |
| Chase Brown, Cin. | 9 | 11 | 81.8% |
| Zach Charbonnet, Sea. | 7 | 11 | 63.6% |
| RJ Harvey, Den. | 8 | 10 | 80.0% |
| Emanuel Wilson, G.B. | 8 | 10 | 80.0% |
| Breece Hall, NYJ | 8 | 10 | 80.0% |
| Zonovan Knight, Ari. | 6 | 10 | 60.0% |
| Samaje Perine, Cin. | 6 | 10 | 60.0% |
Walker also had problems staying healthy in Seattle. Not last year, when he played in all 20 games (contract year … hmm), but Walker missed time in each of his first three seasons. That will need to be factored into his grade.
What Walker offers, however, is big-play speed. Kansas City had a league-low 3 runs of 20-plus yards last year, and only one was by a running back. Seattle had 18 such plays, 2nd-most in the league. Walker will be busting loose for some long touchdowns.
| MOST 20-YARD RUNS BY TEAM | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Att | Yards | Avg | Lng | TD | 20+ |
| Baltimore | 507 | 2,662 | 5.2 | 71 | 23 | 25 |
| Seattle | 507 | 2,096 | 4.1 | 55 | 19 | 18 |
| Buffalo | 547 | 2,714 | 5.0 | 64 | 30 | 16 |
| Miami | 432 | 2,044 | 4.7 | 59t | 14 | 16 |
| New England | 494 | 2,191 | 4.4 | 69t | 22 | 16 |
| LA Chargers | 466 | 2,067 | 4.4 | 59 | 10 | 14 |
| Detroit | 442 | 2,041 | 4.6 | 78t | 21 | 14 |
| Dallas | 465 | 2,136 | 4.6 | 66t | 18 | 13 |
| NY Jets | 456 | 2,096 | 4.6 | 59 | 11 | 13 |
| LA Rams | 465 | 2,152 | 4.6 | 48 | 17 | 12 |
| Chicago | 505 | 2,456 | 4.9 | 39 | 19 | 11 |
| Denver | 456 | 2,018 | 4.4 | 50t | 18 | 11 |
| Washington | 484 | 2,290 | 4.7 | 72 | 20 | 11 |
| Pittsburgh | 407 | 1,756 | 4.3 | 55 | 16 | 11 |
| Indianapolis | 442 | 2,007 | 4.5 | 83t | 27 | 10 |
| NY Giants | 511 | 2,195 | 4.3 | 31t | 22 | 10 |
| Tennessee | 378 | 1,589 | 4.2 | 65t | 9 | 10 |
| Tampa Bay | 472 | 1,947 | 4.1 | 43t | 13 | 9 |
| Philadelphia | 478 | 1,988 | 4.2 | 65t | 17 | 9 |
| Atlanta | 477 | 2,138 | 4.5 | 93 | 17 | 9 |
| Jacksonville | 489 | 1,956 | 4.0 | 71t | 22 | 9 |
| Carolina | 461 | 1,977 | 4.3 | 53 | 9 | 9 |
| Cincinnati | 381 | 1,591 | 4.2 | 37t | 11 | 8 |
| Arizona | 366 | 1,583 | 4.3 | 71 | 9 | 8 |
| Houston | 475 | 1,852 | 3.9 | 50t | 9 | 8 |
| Minnesota | 410 | 1,841 | 4.5 | 65t | 15 | 7 |
| Cleveland | 421 | 1,649 | 3.9 | 46t | 10 | 6 |
| Green Bay | 492 | 2,037 | 4.1 | 40 | 18 | 6 |
| Las Vegas | 369 | 1,317 | 3.6 | 64t | 5 | 5 |
| New Orleans | 435 | 1,603 | 3.7 | 34 | 9 | 5 |
| San Francisco | 481 | 1,817 | 3.8 | 41 | 15 | 4 |
| Kansas City | 430 | 1,812 | 4.2 | 35 | 15 | 3 |
—Ian Allan
