Kenneth Walker III Week 1 Outlook - Rams at Seahawks

By Derek Brown (FantasyPros), Sun, Sep 10th 2023, 12:05pm EDT

Kenneth Walker III stood as the RB8 from Weeks 6-17 after Rashaad Penny was placed on IR with a season-ending injury in 2022. The rookie was the RB9 in points per game. If you remove the two games, he missed due to injury (Weeks 13/14) he averaged 16.4 fantasy points per game, which would have placed him as the RB8 in points per game. He got absolutely FED after returning from a late-season ankle injury. Walker was either consistently playing 70 percent-plus snaps or carrying the ball 23-plus times as the Seattle workhorse. And at times, we even saw Walker earn targets while leading the backfield in routes run. But overall, he underwhelmed as a receiver as he did at the college level. And his tendency to look for home runs resulted in a rushing success rate that ranked second-to-last (31.4%) among rushers with at least 100 carries in 2022. He also missed games because of injuries. His path to RB1 upside will be that much tougher to realize after the team added Zach Charbonnet in the second round of this year's draft. And to add literal insult to injury, Walker popped up this offseason with a groin injury, forcing him to miss time in training camp and during the preseason contests. However, he is healthy entering Week 1 and should be started in all formats as a fantasy RB2 with upside for more until we learn more about a workload split between Walker/Charbonnet. The last time he faced the Rams (Week 18 of last season), Walker rushed for 114 yards on a whopping 29 carries. The Rams also lost linebacker Bobby Wagner (who is back on the Seahawks) who finished as PFF's highest-graded run defender among linebackers in 2022.