The Denver Broncos are atop the AFC West and are now the team to beat. At this point, given how the 2025 season ended, the Broncos might just be the team to beat in the AFC as a whole. After a breakout 14-3 season, it seemed like the Broncos had a shot at making it to the Super Bowl.
But Bo Nix's broken ankle ended their dreams, and even with Jarrett Stidham at the helm, the Broncos did nearly beat the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. It's clear now more than ever that the Broncos are the team that others now need to catch up with.
And we did see that a bit this offseason with the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, and Las Vegas Raiders all making legitimate moves to a degree. However, the Chiefs top move, while it seemed like a good one, may end up being one of the worst in the entire league.
Denver Broncos can only laugh as Chiefs' Kenneth Walker III signing is named as one of the worst
In Bleacher Report, Gary Davenport talked about why the Chiefs signing Kenneth Walker III was one of the worst free agency moves this offseason:
"When last we saw running back Kenneth Walker III, he was gouging the New England Patriots for 135 rushing yards on 27 carries on the way to winning MVP honors in Super Bowl LX.
That big game got the 25-year-old the big bucks: just over $43 million over three years from the Kansas City Chiefs.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid expects Walker to keep chewing up yards in his new home:
"He's a good football player, and it won't change. He's not gonna change coming to us. He's still going to be a good football player. As long as he stays healthy and moves forward, good things can happen for you. We know that the run game's important and we've got good offensive linemen in front of him, so that will be a plus for him. It should be a plus for our football team."
However, Reid alluded to part of the potential problem. Throughout his four-year career, Walker has struggled with nagging injuries. Last year was the first time he played in all 17 games.
While the 2022 second-round pick has posted two 1,000-yard seasons, he has never had 230 carries in a season. He has also never played 600 snaps in a season.
Walker is being paid like a bell-cow running back. But to date, he hasn't shown that he can actually be one."
It's kind of funny that the Chiefs paid Walker a ton of money. He's the fourth-highest-paid running back on a per-year basis and ranks third among running backs in total guaranteed money. As Davenport notes, though, Walker isn't a bell-cow running back and just does not have that phyiscal or skill profile to be one.
Walker is 5-9 and about 210 pounds, so he's slightly undersized. He's below-average in pass protection and has a limited ceiling as a receiver. He's never hit 300 receiving yards in a season and has just two career receiving touchdowns.
Even as a runner, Walker isn't that spectacular. He's ran for at least 1,000 yards two times, but has never had more than 1,050 yards in a season. Furthermore, the 2025 season was the first year of his career where he played in every game. Heck, even in 2024, Walker averaged under four yards per carry.
He's also never averaged more than 4.6 yards per carry in any year of his career. Where people might think this was a great signing is the timing it it all. The Chiefs made one of those immediate, legal tampering period signings for a big-name player.
Typically, teams make top headlines when a signing drops right when the legal tampering period opens, and this one was marketed as 'the Chiefs finally got Patrick Mahomes more help!'
However, not only did the team clearly overpay for a running back who is closer to average than anything, but the defense got a lot worse this offseason, the wide receiver room is still a mess, and there is no guarantee that Mahomes is going to be ready for Week 1 due to his knee injury.
The Chiefs did need some running back help, but the cost, the player they signed, and the other positions they neglected made this move a bad one.