Only one three-letter word can describe Kenneth Walker right now

It’s hard to find the right word to describe what we saw from Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III on Sunday. There are so many that could describe his two-touchdown, 177-yard game, but I think this one sums it up best.

Wow. Just, wow.

Walker was phenomenal again on Sunday, putting the team on his back late to help lift the Chiefs to a gritty 30-27 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

It’s a game that the Chiefs don’t win without him. Walker rushed for 177 yards against the Raiders, highlighted by a monster 76-yard run to end the third quarter and two touchdowns on back-to-back plays from scrimmage in the fourth.

Kenneth Walker changed the game with one explosive run

Walker’s huge run late in the third quarter was the play that finally broke the game open for Kansas City. Down by three and with just 18 yards of offense for the quarter, Walker broke off the longest run of the NFL season and the longest run by a Chief in seven years.

The blocking, the burst through the gap, the speed out in the open, it was all just chef’s kiss.

Then, in the fourth, Walker came up clutch again. He had a short run into the end zone off the back of a 55-yard bomb from Patrick Mahomes to Tyquan Thornton. Then, after the Chiefs recovered a fumble on the ensuing kick return, Walker scored another touchdown on the very next play from scrimmage.

Walker found the edge, used a subtle shimmy and hesitation move to buy extra space from the nearest defender, and then dove into the end zone as he was shoved out of bounds at the five-yard line. Fittingly, it was a Superman dive that propelled Walker to the pylon after another superhuman game.

Kenneth Walker's numbers are getting ridiculous

It was the kind of performance the Chiefs would have only allowed themselves to dream of when they signed Walker as a free agent, and remarkably, he’s had games exactly like this three times in the first four weeks.

At this point, what we’re seeing from Walker feels like the Chiefs' equivalent of the famous Tungsten Arm O’Doyle tweet (except Kansas City is actually winning)—every game, he seems to do something extraordinary, and each statistical accomplishment is even more mind-blowing than the last. This week was no exception.

Walker is the first Chief to have 175-plus rushing yards and two touchdowns since Jamaal Charles in 2010, and his 537 rushing yards this season are the most by any Chiefs player through the first four games of a season in team history. Per PFF, it’s also the most by any running back through the first month of the season in the last 15 years.

If Walker continues at this pace, he is on track to have 17 touchdowns and 2,282 rushing yards, which would break the NFL single-season record. Wow.

But wait, there’s more. 

Walker is one of only four players in NFL history to have 175 yards from scrimmage or more in three of the first four games of a season, and he is 75 yards away from having more yards than Kareem Hunt, Kansas City’s leading rusher last year, had (611).

Oh, and he also leads the league in yards after contact (281), first downs (25), and 20-plus-yard rushes (six)—the last of which is more 20-plus-yard runs than the Chiefs had at running back last season combined.

He has 43 missed tackles forced this year, a whopping 15 more than second place, with at least half a dozen of them coming on this ridiculous second-quarter run against Las Vegas. Wow indeed.

Kenneth Walker has transformed the Chiefs' rushing attack

Explosive plays have always been Walker’s calling card, and that’s exactly what he has brought to Kansas City’s offense so far. The Chiefs had the worst explosive rushing rate in the NFL in 2024 and the second worst last year—this season, with Walker in the backfield, they rank first in the league.

Walker has been everything the Chiefs could have possibly asked for and somehow even more.

Sometimes it’s hard to find the right words to describe something remarkable—how can you describe a perfect sunset, a fireworks display, or, in this case, a running back who might have single-handedly fixed an offense in every way imaginable?

Sometimes you can’t. Sometimes you just have to sit back and say, "Wow!"

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