Seven months after Kenneth Walker III rushed his way to Super Bowl LX MVP honors, the running back is a Chief, and the Seahawks are handing his old job to a 32nd overall pick who hasn't played a single NFL snap. That's the reality Seattle rookies walked into as they reported to training camp on Friday, with Adam Schefter framing it about as directly as it gets: Jadarian Price is there to try to help replace a Super Bowl MVP.
Seahawks rookies report to training camp Friday, when Seattle’s first-round pick Jadarian Price will be trying to help replace Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III. Cc: @DanStanczyk 🎧 https://t.co/5u0N0lcNHD https://t.co/F1qUg7j8vf
Walker's exit stings given how the story ended. He rushed for 135 yards on 27 carries and added 26 receiving yards in Seattle's 29-13 win over New England in Super Bowl LX, becoming the first running back to win Super Bowl MVP since Terrell Davis did it for Denver back in Super Bowl XXXII. That's the bar Price is being measured against before he's even played a preseason snap, and it's about as unfair a comparison as exists in sports right now.
It's also a strange twist because Walker spent most of his Seattle tenure fighting an injury-prone label. He missed 10 games combined across his first three seasons, dealt with foot and ankle issues that flared up in multiple offseasons, and durability concerns were reportedly a real factor in Seattle not extending him last year. Then he went out and played all 20 games in 2025, including the playoffs, without missing a practice once the season started, and walked away with a Lombardi Trophy and the MVP trophy to match.
It's crazy how quickly injury narratives can change. Last year, Kenneth Walker was the most injury-prone player of all time, and I was an idiot jerkoff for recommending you draft him. And now he's a Round 2 pick with no re-injury risk and no chance of a managed workload
Barrett's point cuts at something real: the guy who was supposedly always hurt just proved he could handle a full workload at the highest level, and now he's cashing in on that with a fresh start in Kansas City where there's no lingering managed-workload risk to draft around. Meanwhile Seattle is left replacing not just his production but the trust he'd built up after years of doubt.
Price, for his part, isn't walking straight into bell-cow duty. Reports out of Seattle's offseason program have George Holani, not Price, getting the bulk of first-team reps during minicamp, and Zach Charbonnet remains in the mix after combining with Walker for 1,388 of the team's 1,656 rushing yards over their last 12 games together. Price's calling card at Notre Dame was explosiveness and pass-catching ability, which projects as a real weapon in obvious passing situations even if he has to earn the early-down work.
Camp is where that competition actually starts to sort itself out. Price flashed in shorts-and-shells minicamp, but as any Seahawks beat writer will tell you, that means little once the pads come on and the games start counting. Seattle didn't burn a first-round pick on a running back to keep him as a change-of-pace piece forever, but for now, replacing a Super Bowl MVP is a job Price has to win, not one that's handed to him.