While the Kansas City Chiefs didn't make a ton of moves in free agency, they certainly made some noise in bolstering the running back room by signing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III to a three-year, $43.05 million contract.
As Walker split carries with Zach Charbonnet over the past three seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, there are naturally some concerns about him being a "bell-cow" kind of a back, as the most carries he's tallied in a single season came during his rookie campaign in 2022, when he ran the ball 228 times for 1,050 yards and nine touchdowns.
That said, though, Walker certainly proved he could be the guy when Charbonnet went down with a torn ACL in the second quarter of the Seahawks' Divisional Round win over the San Francisco 49ers, stepping up to post 313 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 65 carries over the course of Seattle's trio of playoff victories, adding another 104 yards on nine receptions.
Nevertheless, it's not as if Walker can play every single down for the Chiefs in 2026, and the depth chart behind him isn't all that menacing at the moment, as it currently includes Emari Demarcado, Brashard Smith, and ShunDerrick Powell. Kansas City could go looking for a back in the upcoming draft, of course, but one could easily assume that Brett Veach and Andy Reid might focus more on replenishing the defense. As such, there's an easy move to be made to add depth to the running back room, and that move is simply re-signing Kareem Hunt.
The Chiefs have nothing to lose by re-signing Kareem Hunt to another one-year deal
It was always assumed that Isiah Pacheco would be wearing another uniform in 2026, and that became a reality in the early days of free agency when he signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Lions to back up Jahmyr Gibbs.
But Hunt, who turns 31 in August, has yet to find a new home, and Kansas City really has nothing to lose by bringing him back.
For starters, the team knows exactly what it's getting in the nine-year veteran. Secondly, the Chiefs know he can still go, as he posted 611 yards and eight touchdowns this past season.
Thirdly, it's not as if bringing back Eric Bieniemy to replace Matt Nagy as offensive coordinator should make a difference whatsoever. For those who may not remember, Bieniemy was the Chiefs' running backs coach when Hunt came into the league in 2017, a season in which Hunt rushed for a career-high and league-leading 1,327 yards. And in 2018, when Bieniemy was promoted to OC, Hunt rushed for 824 yards and seven scores in 11 games before his unceremonious release. So, one would assume he'd be very comfortable in Bieniemy's system this time around as well.
And lastly, this wouldn't cost Kansas City much at all, as Hunt played the 2025 campaign on a one-year, $1.5 million deal. So, one would think that it wouldn't take much more than that to bring him back for one more season to back up Walker.
This is a no-brainer for the Chiefs.
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