Seahawks GM Jokes Kenneth Walker III Attempted to Negotiate New Contract at Super Bowl Parade

Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider joked during Wednesday's championship parade that Super Bowl LX MVP and pending free agent Kenneth Walker III is already trying to negotiate his next contract.

"Ken Walker being the MVP, let's go," Schneider told the crowd Wednesday in Seattle, before adding: "He tried negotiating with me five minutes ago. It was really weird."

The running back denied the talks in a response on Instagram, blaming it on the liquor:

"Must've been da liquor he drinking cuz I never said dat shi," he wrote in the caption.

Walker played this season on the final year of his rookie deal with the Seahawks. He was named Super Bowl MVP after rushing for 135 yards and 27 carries and making two catches for 26 yards in the Seahawks' 29-13 championship win over the New England Patriots last Sunday in Santa Clara.

Walker isn't the only player potentially hitting the open market shortly after the Super Bowl win. Other pending free agents include cornerback Tariq Woolen and wide receiver Rashid Shaheed.

Walker will present the Seahawks with the most pressing question of the offseason after leading the team with 1,027 rushing yards and ranking fourth with 282 receiving yards through 17 regular-season games.

He then covered for the postseason absence of injured running back Zach Charbonnet while leading the NFL postseason with 313 rushing yards and four touchdowns in three playoff games.

After becoming the first running back to earn the championship game MVP award since Terrell Davis won Super Bowl XXXII with the Denver Broncos in 1998, Walker is now set to hit free agency when his current contract expires on March 12.

Walker said after his team's Super Bowl LX victory that he would stay in Seattle if the choice was up to him.

"I've been here four years, so you know I've gotten to know a lot of stuff about Seattle, and you know a lot of the city, and I feel like they feel good about me as well," Walker said after the championship game win, per NFL.com's Kevin Patra. "So if it was my choice, though, I'd definitely stay."

Spotrac projects that Walker will receive a four-year, $36 million deal on his next contract. The Seahawks are heading into the offseason with $62 million in effective 2026 cap space, per Over the Cap, good for the sixth-most in the NFL.

Schneider could potentially look to use some of that cap space to reunite Darnold and Walker next season once he is done celebrating his franchise's first Super Bowl win since 2014.