The Kansas City Chiefs not only retooled major parts of the team's defense, but also brought in virtually an entirely new running back room. General manager Brett Veach did a solid job snagging Kenneth Walker III in free agency on a three-year, $43 million contract, while also nailing another day three steal in Nebraska tailback Emmett Johnson.
Walker is projected to be a major focus of the offense and has already gained the confidence of both Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the coaching staff. Johnson, being a rookie, will have to master Andy Reid's complicated scheme before taking on too much. Which is why Veach bringing in free agent signing Emari Demercado on a one-year contract was one of his most underrated moves of the offseason.
It's well known how brutally bad the Chiefs' RB room was last year, most notably Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. While Pacheco will always have a soft spot in Chiefs fans' hearts for his first two years of production, where he helped the Chiefs win back-to-back titles, a broken leg and lack of top-tier talent slowed him down. And Hunt, for all his early-career success and then rocky middle road, returned to the Chiefs late in the 2024 season and gave it all he had. However, it's not hard to argue that Demercado would have been better than both KC backs last year, which can only raise excitement for 2026.
KC needs to give the former Arizona Cardinal a fair shot to show what he can do
Demercado went undrafted in the 2023 draft out of TCU to the Arizona Cardinals and has since played admirably in a backup role. In three years running behind a poor offensive line on a team that failed to make the playoffs, Demercado accumulated 819 yards on the ground on just 126 attempts. That's 6.5 yards per carry, which easily would have made him top of the league this past year.
The 27-year-old ran a 4.44 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, and when you pair his speed with good elusiveness and a willingness to pass block, you get a match made in heaven with returning OC Eric Bieniemy. Demercado can catch the ball as well, with 50 career grabs and a score. But where he thrives is in creating big, explosive plays that can flip the field in an instant. It's exactly the skill set the Chiefs' backfield was lacking over the past couple of seasons, which played a huge role in the offense, at times, stagnating.
His long run in 2025 was a 71-yard scamper, when he famously dropped the ball one yard short of the goal line on what would have been a 72-yard TD. No doubt he felt as bad as anybody for that, and I'm sure with how strict Bieniemy and RB coach DeMarco Murray are, that will not happen in a Chiefs uniform.
Nonetheless, it's safe to say that while Kenneth Walker will and should be the lead man, it's important to have a committee of backs to keep each other fresh, especially for a team like the Chiefs who plan to play deep into January every season. Not only will the rookie Johnson contribute, but Demercado should be a guy who receives 8-10 touches every game, and only needs one little gap to take it to the house.
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