{"id":843883,"date":"2026-03-30T23:23:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843883\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:23:21","slug":"mike-macdonald-discusses-seahawks-losing-super-bowl-mvp-kenneth-walker-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843883\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Macdonald Discusses Seahawks Losing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">Running back Kenneth Walker III was perhaps the Seattle Seahawks&#8217; biggest loss in free agency this offseason, especially since Zach Charbonnet is recovering from a torn ACL that will force him to at least miss part of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">Seattle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/seahawks\/onsi\/seahawks-news\/did-seahawks-find-starting-running-back-emanuel-wilson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">signed Emanuel Wilson in free agency<\/a> and still has George Holani and Kenny McIntosh to compete for the starting running back role, potentially, but it&#8217;s hard to replace a Super Bowl MVP.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was asked about losing Walker and the state of the running back room at the NFL annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Macdonald &#8216;super happy&#8217; for Walker after signing with Chiefs<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">&#8220;You&#8217;re like super happy for him,&#8221; Macdonald said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seahawks.com\/news\/mike-macdonald-i-think-people-are-kind-of-sleeping-on-the-running-backs-we-have\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">per Seahawks.com reporter Ari Horton<\/a>. &#8220;I mean, you see the work that he&#8217;s put in, and it&#8217;s not been like an even road for him the whole time. Some of the things he&#8217;s dealt with health-wise, and some other things, but the guy played great football for us, helped us win a Super Bowl. And him and I got to spend some time like after, get a long drive down to the press conference after the game. We had some great conversations, but just happy for him. He was able to take care of his family. He&#8217;s a great dude, a great football player. Really excited for him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">Walker earned himself a three-year, $43.05 million deal with the Chiefs ($14.35 million APY) after his impressive playoff run that ended with a Super Bowl MVP award. He had a career-best 1,309 scrimmage yards on 252 touches and totaled 29 touches for 161 yards in Super Bowl LX.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01kn0f55hz19bvp0j5yk.jpg\" alt=\"Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) celebrates after scoring a touchdown\" title=\"Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) celebrates after scoring a touchdown\" width=\"6273\" height=\"4182\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"78\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dec 18, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams in the second half at Lumen Field. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">The Seahawks will now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/seahawks\/onsi\/seahawks-news\/seattle-seahawks-not-worried-losing-kenneth-walker-iii-george-holani\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">likely turn to a combination of Holani, Wilson and McIntosh<\/a> in 2026, but they could also still add a rookie in the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you this, I think people are kind of sleeping on the guys we have a little bit,&#8221; Macdonald added. &#8220;I mean, George Holani played great for us down the stretch. What was the number on Charb&#8217;s [Zach Charbonnet] touchdowns? I mean, Zach&#8217;s a great player. He&#8217;s not going to miss the whole year. And then Kenny Mac [McIntosh] [will] be able to come back, and then the guys we added. So, I&#8217;m excited about how that room goes from here, and then, obviously, just like the rest of the team, any opportunity to take our team to the next level, we&#8217;re going to look at it. So that&#8217;s how John [Schneider] rolls.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">Holani has mostly been a special teams ace since going undrafted out of Boise State in 2024. Still, he&#8217;s appeared in 16 games and totaled 25 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown in his career thus far.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">McIntosh was a seventh-round pick by the Seahawks out of Georgia in 2023. He is also coming off a significant knee injury suffered in the 2025 preseason, but he had appeared in 20 games from 2023-24 and totaled 31 carries for 172 yards.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">Wilson is the new addition, spending the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WilsEm00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">first three years of his career with the Green Bay Packers<\/a>. He&#8217;s seen a fair amount of work, finishing the 2025 season with 125 carries for 496 yards and three touchdowns. The former undrafted free agent has also been a consistent receiver.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">To the public, head coaches and general managers are always going to be optimistic about the players in the building. The Seahawks&#8217; additions at the position for the rest of the offseason will illustrate how they truly feel.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7u\">\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/seahawks\/onsi\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Enjoy free coverage of the Super Bowl champions from Seattle Seahawks On SI<\/a>\u00a0\u2014<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/seahawks\/newsletter\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Sign Up For the Seahawks Daily Digest &#8211; OnSI\u2019s Free Seattle Seahawks Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Running back Kenneth Walker III was perhaps the Seattle Seahawks&#8217; biggest loss in free agency this offseason, especially&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,6,238,237,261,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-843883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-seahawks","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-seahawks","13":"tag-seattleseahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116320706707287829","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}