Ken Walker III Emerging as Budding Superstar in Seahawks' Backfield
Reporter Corbin Smith and analyst Rob Rang revisit Ken Walker III's standout performance in the Seahawks 37-27 victory over the Panthers and where the second-year back has improved the most compared to his outstanding rookie season.
Transcript
00:00 Last year, Ken Walker III became just the second rookie running back in Seahawks
00:04 history to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards.
00:06 He finished second in offensive rookie of the year balloting.
00:10 But last weekend may have been his coming out party
00:14 in terms of all around effectiveness.
00:16 Nearly 100 rushing yards, 59 receiving yards,
00:20 almost 20 yards per catch in the game for the Seahawks.
00:25 And a pair of second half touchdowns to help him pull away from the Panthers late.
00:29 And that was enough to earn himself NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
00:34 The first Seahawk to get a Player of the Week honor so far this season.
00:38 And we already know, Rob, how talented of a player and
00:41 how athletic Ken Walker III is.
00:43 We've thrown some pretty big names out there when we discuss what his skill set
00:48 compares to whether it's been Gale Sayers or Barry Sanders.
00:52 We've thrown some Hall of Fame caliber talent around.
00:55 We've talked about comps for players with skill sets.
00:58 And yet, this really did feel like a game where we kind of saw Ken Walker III take
01:04 that next step, both as a runner and a receiver.
01:08 >> Beautifully put, sir.
01:09 I think that is exactly how we should be describing what Ken Walker III did
01:15 this last week against the Carolina Panthers.
01:17 And he was absolutely dynamic.
01:19 He was equally dynamic, I thought, against the Detroit Lions a week previously.
01:24 And again, in Detroit, in the Barry Sanders comparisons and
01:28 all of that kind of stuff, it's just interesting to me.
01:32 Because there were other players that were more productive.
01:35 I mean, DeAndre Swift, for the Philadelphia Eagles,
01:40 averaged 8.1 yards per carry in an Eagles win.
01:44 Wound up having 130 rushing yards.
01:47 Tony Pollard in a losing cause, still, he had 122 rushing yards.
01:53 And that's what you expect when you think about running backs,
01:56 is what did they actually run for?
01:58 And so the fact that Ken Walker III winds up getting the NFC
02:03 Offensive Player of the Week.
02:05 And as a running back, you expect there to be a whole bunch of rushing yards for
02:09 him to be under the 100-yard rushing mark.
02:14 But I think that sometimes people are kind of expecting that you should be
02:18 above that if you're gonna be the player of the week.
02:21 Yet I think that the fact that he was equally dynamic as a runner and
02:26 as a receiver, that he scored two touchdowns in a winning cause.
02:30 To me, this is exactly the argument that we tried to present a year ago,
02:34 when it was Garrett Wilson for a New York Jets team that, hey,
02:38 give them a little bit of credit.
02:39 They won a few games last year, but
02:42 they certainly didn't win as many as the Seahawks did.
02:44 And they weren't as critical, Garrett Wilson, in my opinion,
02:48 as critical to the Jets' success a year ago as Kenneth Walker was to the Seahawks'
02:52 success a year ago.
02:54 And that was why I always kind of argued that he should have been the Offensive
02:59 Player of the Year, or excuse me, Offensive Rookie of the Year a season ago.
03:04 It's just the ability to make people miss in very tight spaces,
03:09 the lateral quickness, the instincts that he possesses.
03:13 He really is a very dynamic running back.
03:17 And I think this is an award that is very well deserved, and
03:20 one that I'm excited about moving forward.
03:23 Because I think that there is success still to be attained for
03:26 this dynamic second year player for the Seahawks.
03:30 >> I'm glad you pointed out the idea that typically a offensive player of the week
03:35 at the running back position, it's usually synonymous with triple digits
03:39 in the rushing yards category.
03:41 But what really set Ken Walker III apart this week is the fact that he had over
03:45 150 all-purpose yards, cuz he had almost 60 receiving yards.
03:50 And what really jumped out to me,
03:52 we're looking at that next step for a player like Ken Walker III.
03:55 We saw the slitheriness last year, the ability to turn nothing into a big game.
04:00 There were times it blew up in his face too.
04:02 That's gonna happen sometimes when you're a player like that,
04:04 that has that kind of ability out of the backfield.
04:08 There are gonna be times you take gambles trying to get yardage that it ends up
04:12 blowing up and you have a two or three yard loss.
04:13 But I feel like he has cut down on those plays some this year.
04:17 And I feel like he isn't taking those chances quite as often.
04:21 It seems like he's getting a better feel of the line of scrimmage and
04:24 when he should and when he shouldn't try to make those kind of runs.
04:27 And there's two plays that jumped out to me from Sunday's game.
04:30 The first one was around the 740 mark in the first quarter and
04:34 it was an inside zone to the right.
04:36 And Carolina, to their credit, they had that play snuffed out.
04:40 The entire right side of the offensive line got pushed backward.
04:44 And Ken Walker III ran into one of his linemen.
04:47 It looked like he was gonna be a two or three yard loss minimum on that play.
04:51 But he was able to then bounce the run way out to the outside to the left.
04:57 And he was able to outrun several defenders that were in pursuit towards
05:01 the sideline and he turned it into a seven yard game on a play that he should
05:05 have lost three yards.
05:07 And there are very few backs.
05:09 All these guys are phenomenal athletes, but there are very few NFL running backs
05:12 that could have done what he did on that play.
05:15 The ability to extend something that was completely broken.
05:17 Again, there were some plays last year where he got stuffed when he tried to do
05:20 that, but you're willing to let him do that because he can do plays like that
05:24 on the field where he ends up turning a big loss into nearly a first down carry.
05:31 And the other one, his longest run of the game coming in the second half.
05:36 He has a killer jump cut and I'm trying to remember which Panthers defender that
05:40 it was, it was one of their corners was crashing down and
05:44 looked like he had Ken Walker III lined up when he did one of those bounce back
05:48 maneuvers cuz the run to the left was bottled up.
05:51 The Panthers had it stopped in the line of scrimmage.
05:53 He cut back to his right and he just laid out the nastiest jump cut.
05:59 It looked like a video game jump cut and left the corner just grasping for air.
06:04 And the thing that he can do that I don't know there's another running back in
06:08 the NFL right now, this is the type of praise I'm gonna be dishing here.
06:12 I don't know that there is a running back in the NFL right now that can accelerate
06:16 out of a jump cut the way that Ken Walker III does.
06:19 Because he got out of that jump cut and then boom, he's on the sideline,
06:22 he gets 36 yards out of that play.
06:25 And so those are the kind of things that you're seeing, but
06:27 I'm seeing him make those improvisation runs a little bit less this year.
06:33 And he's being a little more decisive and
06:35 that is turning into a better yards per carry average.
06:37 And obviously the receiving on the outside, as long as catch,
06:41 he was out on the boundary and ended up catching a 30 plus yard reception.
06:45 So we are seeing this kid grow as an all around player.
06:49 He's been really good in pass protection the first three games.
06:51 He is turning into one of the best all around backs in the NFL in my opinion.
06:55 >> No, he really is.
06:57 And as you mentioned, I mean, he caught that other ball on the outside.
07:01 And he was lined up as a wide receiver.
07:03 I mean, you're not gonna see very many running backs who are gonna be able to
07:05 pull that off.
07:06 And so you mentioned before about the fact that we have highlighted him,
07:13 we have sung his praises, we've compared him to Gale Sayers and Barry Sanders.
07:20 To me, the only other rec in the NFL right now who is playing at this kind of level
07:24 is Christian McAffer.
07:25 There's not very many guys that I've seen be able to make the jump cut that he does.
07:30 And I've got another Hall of Fame name for you that in my opinion is still one of
07:34 the absolute best when it comes to his vision, his ability to cut back against
07:38 the grain, and that would be Terrell Davis from the Denver Broncos.
07:42 He is one of the absolute best I've ever seen in terms of running one way,
07:46 seeing a angle that's cutting back the other way, cutting back against the grain.
07:51 That's what Ken Walker III has made some dynamic plays.
07:53 And Ken Walker III is a better athlete than Terrell Davis ever wanted to be.
07:58 And so that to me is the kind of standard that we're talking about here.
08:01 This is an absolutely dynamic player,
08:04 justifying where Seattle selected him in the first place.
08:08 And I think that is the biggest reason why that Seattle is now in position to
08:12 continue to have the success that they are having.
08:14 He was spectacular all season long so far, as has been Zach Charbonnet.
08:19 So that's, again, is just kind of justifying why Seattle has used
08:23 the selections that they have at the running back position.
08:26 I am a huge fan of what Ken Walker III has done so far, and
08:30 I am eager to see what he is gonna do moving forward as well.
08:34 >> Ken Walker III right now is putting a pretty nice display out there for
08:39 those that are still in favor of using earlier draft picks on running backs.
08:43 Because there are not guys that you're gonna be drafting in the fifth, sixth,
08:47 seventh round, or bringing it undrafted,
08:49 that are going to be making runs like that one with the jump cut that he had.
08:53 You're not gonna get players like that in the later rounds.
08:55 Can you get productive running backs?
08:57 Absolutely, you're not going to get players though that have those type of
09:01 Hall of Fame caliber traits.
09:03 And so Seattle looking pretty smart right now with the two running backs they
09:07 drafted in the second round, both those guys being a big part of that win against
09:11 Carolina.
09:11 And they're hoping the run game is gonna continue to be a big part of this top five
09:15 scoring offense.
09:16 They're number four in the NFL through three weeks,
09:19 even after that egg they laid in week one.
09:22 This is an offense that seems to be finding its way.
09:24 And a big part of that has been the talent that they've got at the running back position.