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Kenneth Walker III returns to Seattle, but this time he will be wearing the Chiefs uniform. It's a homecoming full of stories, as Walker faces his former team for the first time. To talk more about this, we welcome CBS Sports NFL analysts John Breech and Ryan Wilson. Ryan, let's start with you. Kenneth returns to Seattle this time as the opponent. How decisive do you expect him to be against his former team? And could this be one of those games where the revenge narrative translates into a great performance? Hello Sudu, hello Breech, it's great to see you on a Friday. The good news for Seattle is that their defense is really, really good. The bad news is that Kenneth Walker could
be one of the best players in the NFL and perhaps deserves, on some level, to be in the MVP conversation along with Brock Purdy, of course. And I don't know if it's revenge or not. If you've ever spoken to Ken Walker, you'll see that he's a pretty reserved guy, but he lets his game speak for itself and has been a lifeline for a Chiefs team that had been one-dimensional in recent years. They already know how badly they did last year. And given the way he's playing, and considering the Seahawks' ground game is absolutely terrible, I imagine John Schneider, the general manager, wishes he had a time machine to change this. Now, DeeJay Dallas is injured. It looks like Zach Charbonnet will be back, which is
good news. But this offensive. I mean, imagine saying this, this offensive revolves around Ken Walker. And then you have a guy named Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce doing their thing. But what a fantastic signing Brett Veach made. And this has changed the landscape for a team that last year barely managed six victories. They had a lot of injuries with Patrick Mahomes and they didn't have a ground game worth mentioning. And all that has changed, Breech. Yes, Ryan, you said Kenneth Walker is a reserved guy. Those are usually the ones who most seek revenge. He'll never say it, but deep down you know he wants to beat the Seahawks by 45 points. He wants to rush for 150 yards in this game. He wants to smash them
against the ground. He has the opportunity to return to his old territory and show them: "Hey, look, you shouldn't have let me go." And based on how things have gone this year, there's a very real possibility that we'll see it. I mean, we're looking at this statistic here, which completely blows my mind. Kenneth Walker has more yards this season than the Seahawks as a team. And keep in mind that the Chiefs already had their bye week. They have played five games, the Seahawks have played six. Kenneth Walker is doing that well. It has truly transformed both teams. You look at Seattle and they've become somewhat one-dimensional. They are throwing the ball much more than last year. That has put a lot of pressure on Sam
Darnold. He really hasn't handled that pressure well in recent weeks with seven interceptions. Then you look at the Chiefs, Ryan, like you said, Kenneth Walker has become the centerpiece of an offense that has Patrick Mahomes. That seems almost impossible to believe, but that's what happened. Both teams have taken different paths, and I think he'll have a great game on Sunday night. Ryan, a follow-up question. Do you think Seattle's familiarity gives the defense an advantage, or is it the "I have something to prove against my organization" factor that gives Kenneth the edge?
Oh, they probably have a very clear idea of what Kenneth Walker will do. The task will be to bring it down to earth, and no one has been able to do it so far. So, in the NFL, you rarely see many surprises. Teams generally know what's going to happen offensively and defensively. It's just a matter of whether you can execute it. Is my player better than yours? And Kenneth Walker, who is on track to set the rushing yards record this year with around 2,200 yards, has been better than every person he has faced. So the Seahawks' defense is good. There is no doubt about that, and this will be a difficult test. They don't allow many yards on average per game. I don't know if Kenneth Walker cares about that, Sudo. So they'll know. It's just a
matter of whether you can grab him and tackle him. John, the Chiefs are obviously without left tackle Josh Simmons. He has been placed on the injured reserve list. How much does that change the way Kansas City approaches this game offensively, particularly in protecting Patrick Mahomes? Well, they've had to deal with not having Josh Simmons all this season, almost his entire career. So, at this point, it's almost as if they 're used to it. This is a bit of a strange situation, to say the least, simply because if you look at his career, go back, they drafted him in the first round last season, they expected him to be the future left tackle, their franchise player at that position. That simply hasn't happened. He
missed nine games last year, four of them due to a personal matter, the others due to injury. And now we return to this season where he has apparently been dealing with an injury since August. The Chiefs didn't put him on injured reserve at the start of the season because they thought he would play at some point. And now here we are entering this week and he's on the injured reserve list. So, they will lose.they've already lost five games, they'll lose at least four more. That's nine games. But the good news for the Chiefs is that Khalilo Benton has taken over and is playing better than anyone could have expected as an undrafted rookie. So, because of that, Simmons' whole situation doesn't hurt as much. But if Benton continues to
play at this high level, then he will simply be their franchise player instead of Josh Simmons. Okay, moving on to Seattle, Jackson Smith-Njigba. I mean, he's gone from being a promising young receiver to one of the best in American football. Where do you rank JSN among the NFL's elite wide receivers overall? And what makes him so difficult for opposing defenses to contain? It's interesting, Stu, because he doesn't have the build of Marvin Harrison Jr., who is 1.90 m tall and weighs 97 kg. He is more of a guy with a build of 1.83 m and 88 kg. But he wins no matter where you put him, no matter what route he's running, short, medium, or deep. And the problem was always, when leaving Ohio State, the speed. I remember being there on that
test day, he ran a 4.51 and everyone said, "Okay, that's fast enough." But don't forget that he was the first of that string of wide receivers in that draft to be selected 20th overall. If you had a new draft today, he would be a top-five pick. He's probably the best wide receiver in football right now, and I know that because he gets scouted more than any other receiver on any other team in the galaxy in terms of what Seattle does. So he's incredibly important to what they do, and the offense runs through him, much like it runs through Ken Walker on the other side. It's a fantastic story, and what I take away from it is that it doesn't matter what position you're drafted in, and sometimes we just don't
know what that means on draft night. It's about what you do with the opportunity, and he took the ball, caught it and ran with it, Breach. Yes, and what blows my mind about JSN is that he continues to achieve such high numbers despite being the centerpiece of the Seahawks' offense. And that means every defense comes into this game saying, "Hey, if we can stop this guy, we can probably stop this offense." They designed their entire game plan to stop Jackson Smith-Njigba, and no one has been able to really figure out how to do it. The problem is you ca n't cover him properly in individual defense because he runs
incredible routes. It changes direction very well. He leads the NFL in yards after the catch. You can really see how elusive it is. If you use a zone defense, he'll just find a gap and catch the ball. And I mentioned the yards after the reception; It has over 700 yards YAC. Nobody else in the NFL even comes close to 600. So he's simply the best at what he does right now, and that's why the Seahawks love him, because this offense revolves around JSN right now. Alright, John, we have an undefeated Chiefs team traveling to Seattle to face a desperate Seahawks team. Something has to give here, right?, between Kenneth Walker and the Seahawks' ground defense. Who will win this match, and what will ultimately decide it?
Yes, this is going to be interesting. I think Kenneth Walker wants to have a big game. I think if you're the Seahawks' defense, you have to pick your poison here. Do we want to try to slow Kenneth Walker down, perhaps by putting some extra men on the line? But if you do that, Patrick Mahomes could throw for 350 yards. There really isn't a good way for a defense to attack the Chiefs. And I know the Seahawks are desperate because if they lose here and the 49ers win on Sunday, they'd be four games out of first place with only 10 left in the season. But despite that desperation, despite the fact that this game is being played in Seattle, I bet Kenneth Walker will get his revenge. The Chiefs win 27-24.
Hey Briggy, we're on the same page again. Uh, Chiefs 24-20. And the problem for me is this: we don't really talk about Sam Darnold and the concerns about turnovers, but that has been the biggest headache for this team. He has already had three games with multiple interceptions. And the issue of turnovers in Seattle is pretty straightforward under Mike McDonald in recent years. Seattle has a record of 26 and 2 when it ties or wins the turnover battle. And when they lose it, which has been the case this year, they have a record of 4 and 11. I think they lose that battle. I think Kenneth Walker is going to go crazy playing this game. I think JSN is going to go crazy too. But if you lose the
turnover battle, you're going to lose against the Chiefs. Everything will happen on Sunday night. It's a pleasure to have you both here at the same time this Friday, guys. Thank you for your time. Be sure to tune in to NFL Today on CBS on Sunday starting at noon. Of course, our team led by James Brown, Nate Burleson, Bill Cowher, Matt Ryan, J.J. Watt and more will be with you on Sunday.
