Early on when the NFL’s legal tampering period opened up, one of the biggest moves that was made involved the Kansas City Chiefs fixing their running back when they agreed to terms with Kenneth Walker III to a three-year deal that is worth up to $45 million ($28.7 million guaranteed).
The Chiefs needed to upgrade their running back room, and they did so by getting this past season’s Super Bowl MVP to fill the need. Now don’t get me wrong, Walker is a solid running back and there is no doubt that he makes the Chiefs’ offense scary. At the same time, the Chiefs could have gone in a different route that Bills fans may not be thinking about.
Chiefs signing Kenneth Walker should actually have Bills fans happy
Now, you might be asking why considering that Walker is coming off a fantastic Super Bowl performance where he completely embarrassed the New England Patriots. However, the other route that the Chiefs could have taken was to wait until next month’s draft and try to draft Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.
Love was the best running back in the nation the last two years for the Fighting Irish, racking up back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons to go with atleast 17 touchdowns the last two seasons each. Wherever he gets drafted, he is going to fit perfectly. He can run inside and outside the tackles, and he can be a pass-catching back.
You could make the case that he, not Fernando Mendoza, should have won the Heisman Trophy. He was more dynamic and he has a higher ceiling as a player overall.
The Chiefs currently hold two first round picks and one of them is at No. 9, in which KC could have easily moved up to acquire Love for the future (both short and long term).
Even though the Chiefs get a solid running back in Walker, Bills fans should be happy that they decided to pay for a back rather than draft one that has a way higher ceiling than Walker and wouldn’t be as expensive in the foreseeable future. Buffalo already has a tough time stopping Kansas City in the playoffs and if they were to have Love, it would be even tougher to stop.
With Walker landing in Kansas City, the Bills may not have to worry about Love going to an AFC contender and that should give Buffalo’s run-defense a huge break.