In a somewhat surprising turn of events, the Seattle Seahawks let Kenneth Walker III leave in free agency.
The reigning Super Bowl MVP got a four-year, $43M deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Seahawks had the sixth-most available cap space entering the offseason, yet they still allowed him to leave.
So far, they’ve only signed Emanuel Wilson, and they’ve hinted at drafting Walker’s replacement.
Nevertheless, with just four draft picks and a weak running back class, they might be better off signing a placeholder and waiting until next offseason to find a long-term solution. If that’s the case, then Raheem Mostert should be their guy.
Raheem Mostert makes perfect sense for the Seahawks
The Seahawks already have multiple bruising, blocking and pass-catching running backs. They even have Zach Charbonnet, who’ll be back at some point in the season after suffering a season-ending injury.
That’s why Mostert, one of the fastest running backs in the game, even at this point in his career, should be a no-brainer addition for Mike Macdonald’s team.
He took a backseat to De’Von Achane and Ashton Jeanty in the past couple of seasons, but he ran for 1,012 and a league-leading 18 touchdowns in 2023.
Signing Mostert won’t affect their compensatory pick formula, and it shouldn’t cost them much. Spotrac projects his next contract to be for one year and just $1.3M, giving them a cheap bridge running back to prepare for 2027.
The Chiefs don’t have anyone with the same running back profile and style as Walker, and even if Mostert can’t log 200+ carries anymore as he did two years ago, he’s the closest they can get to a player like Walker in the current market.