The Denver Broncos are preparing for Monday Night’s season opener next week as if Patrick Mahomes is going to be 100%, and even if he is, they’ll still have to account for Kansas City’s biggest offseason signing, Kenneth Walker.
Denver Broncos gearing up for Patrick Mahomes, Kenneth Walker on MNF next week
Last week, Broncos head coach Sean Payton outlined that the team’s approach would be to prepare for a 100% healthy Patrick Mahomes, who is coming off a multi-ligament knee injury. One of Mahomes’ best superpowers is his mobility and his consistent ability to pirouette around different pressures to extend plays either in the passing game or by tucking the football away and running for big gains, especially on third down.
He’s made a career off of that — he’s won three Super Bowls by tapping into that ability. It would be naive for any team to assume that Mahomes still can’t do what he’s done best, even after coming off of surgery. But this offseason, the Kansas City Chiefs went out and got him some insurance by adding former Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker into the mix.
“I think we’re looking at it and expecting someone who’s 100 percent, someone who’s moving well based on what limited footage you get,” Payton said Monday morning. “He’s going to be one of those guys that threatens you not only in the pocket, but out of the pocket. So our approach has been to pay close attention to what we’ve seen historically, film-wise, and how we defend not only him, but their team. So that’s kind of been the approach.”
Walker hit free agency this past year after helping the Seahawks win it all against the New England Patriots. The Broncos did some background work evaluating Walker ahead of free agency this past year, but he landed quickly with Kansas City.
“You always get a chance, obviously, to see a top free agent like that, especially when he plays in the Super Bowl,” Payton said. “I think he has really good contact balance, vision with home-run speed. He’s a heck of a football player.”
He’s one the Broncos will have to account for as well as Mahomes. The last time the Broncos faced Walker specifically was in Bo Nix’s rookie season in Week 1 of 2024, where he had 20 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown that helped the Seahawks win 26-20.
Walker is the type of player who could be bottled up for a half of football, but suddenly turn things on quickly in a matter of runs. He’s patient, explosive, and can wear down a defense quickly, which then puts stress on the defense to try to bottle him up. Vance Joseph’s defense will have their hands full this week gameplanning and prepping for a Chiefs’ offense that has new personnel, the same scheme as what they’ve always run, while leaving room to adjust to whatever new wrinkles Kansas City plans to throw at them.
