09/16/2026
BREAKING "Never say Never"...
🥹🏈 EIGHT YEARS AGO, DOCTORS TOLD HIM FOOTBALL WAS OVER. NOW HE JUST RAN FOR 173 YARDS IN HIS CHIEFS DEBUT.
Kenneth Walker III once thought he was chasing his football dream. In the summer of 2018, that dream nearly disappeared overnight.
Walker was a high school player in Tennessee preparing for his senior season, still without a Power Five offer and working to finally get college coaches’ attention.
Then he woke up one morning and couldn’t breathe.
His mother rushed him to the hospital, where doctors discovered blood clots in his lungs — a pulmonary embolism that can quickly become life-threatening. He was immediately shut down from all sports.
Doctors told the teenager that continuing to play through the chest pain could have cost him his life if he had taken a hit in the wrong place.
Football was over.
But Walker refused to let that be the end of his story.
With treatment, time and the support of his family, he eventually returned to the field. Still without a major scholarship offer, he began his college career at Wake Forest before transferring to Michigan State.
Then came his breakout 2021 season.
Walker rushed for more than 1,600 yards and became one of the most electric running backs in the country. The Seattle Seahawks selected him in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
For three seasons, he showed what he could do while sharing carries in a committee.
Then this past February, he finally got the opportunity to take over.
Walker carried Seattle through the playoffs, rushed for 135 yards in Super Bowl LX and was named Super Bowl MVP. Months later, he signed a major free-agent deal with Kansas City to become the Chiefs’ every-down back.
In his first game wearing a Chiefs uniform, Walker delivered.
He ran for a career-high 173 yards and scored two touchdowns — one rushing and one receiving. His 60-yard touchdown run saw him reach more than 21 mph, making it one of the fastest runs of his career.
The Chiefs went on to beat the Broncos.
Eight years after doctors told him he might never play football again, Kenneth Walker III just had the biggest rushing performance of his NFL career.
Some comebacks mean more than the stat sheet ever could. ❤️🏈
