{"id":847016,"date":"2026-04-01T12:11:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/847016\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T12:11:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:11:19","slug":"will-chiefs-run-more-under-center-with-kenneth-walker-iii-what-andy-reid-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/847016\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Chiefs run more under center with Kenneth Walker III? What Andy Reid said"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX \u2014 The Kansas City Chiefs made a significant investment in their run game by signing back Kenneth Walker III to a three-year deal<\/a> worth $28.7 million guaranteed earlier this month.<\/p>\n

So will that result in a change offensively \u2014 with the Chiefs adding more under-center runs, which Walker was most used to this past season?<\/p>\n

Perhaps not, according to Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who was asked Tuesday about that topic during Tuesday\u2019s NFL league meeting at the Arizona Biltmore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he did that this year (running under center with Seattle). That was a new coordinator. The year before, there\u2019s more \u2019gun. And he was in the \u2019gun a bit this year. So his numbers are about the same,\u201d Reid said. \u201cHe can do either or. He\u2019s pretty flexible there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start with this: Walker was no doubt more of an under-center runner last season. Per TruMedia, 79 percent of his total carries (regular season and postseason combined) were in that setup, a particularly high amount considering the team he\u2019s joining.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs, contrastingly, ran just 20 percent of their plays under center last season. That was the third-lowest mark in the NFL, and more than three times lower than the league-leading Los Angeles Rams (60.2 percent).<\/p>\n

So has Walker been more effective under center? As Reid stated, the recent numbers there aren\u2019t exactly definitive.<\/p>\n

Kenneth Walker III rushing stats<\/p>\n

RushesYards per carrySuccess rate<\/p>\n

2024 under center<\/p>\n

73<\/p>\n

3.5<\/p>\n

37%<\/p>\n

2024 shotgun<\/p>\n

80<\/p>\n

4.0<\/p>\n

35%<\/p>\n

2025 under center<\/p>\n

225<\/p>\n

4.7<\/p>\n

39%<\/p>\n

2025 shotgun<\/p>\n

61<\/p>\n

4.5<\/p>\n

21%<\/p>\n

Walker certainly had a particularly poor success rate on shotgun runs in 2025, with his 21 percent mark ranking last among 49 NFL running backs with at least 100 carries.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a smaller sample with 61 carries, though. And in 2024, when the Seahawks more evenly split Walker\u2019s workload, he averaged a half-yard more per carry in shotgun than he did under center.<\/p>\n

Just examining \u201cunder center\u201d and \u201cshotgun\u201d also might be too simplistic a view. Perhaps Walker \u2014 with his speed \u2014 is best suited to get a running start, which means going to a Pistol formation (shotgun with the back behind the quarterback) could be another way for the Chiefs to cater to his style. K.C. was middle of the NFL pack last season while using Pistol on 3.1 percent of its snaps.<\/p>\n

The Walker addition also doesn\u2019t change the fact that the Chiefs will be looking to run more downhill in 2026. General manager Brett Veach hinted at this in February during the NFL combine<\/a>, saying the team needed to lean more on its interior three offensive linemen (Kingsley Suamataia, Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith) in attempting to \u201cimpose your will on an opposing team\u2019s defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement suggests the Chiefs want to be more aggressive in their run game, likely shifting from being one of the NFL\u2019s top run-pass option (RPO) teams to focusing on schemes that more often get run blockers downfield.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how Walker is deployed, Reid shared excitement Tuesday about adding his playmaking to the backfield. The Chiefs struggled to create explosive plays in 2025, mustering just one 20-plus-yard carry from a running back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe adds another element to the offense, another something you can throw at the defense, which is important,\u201d Reid said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s legit. He can take it the distance every time he touches the ball. There\u2019s that threat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 The Kansas City Chiefs made a significant investment in their run game by signing back Kenneth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,2438,2437,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-847016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascitychiefs","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116329387526972847","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847016","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=847016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}