Kenneth Walker's 537-yard start is the best first-four-game rushing mark in 15 years
The Chiefs running back's league-leading start topped DeMarco Murray's 2014 pace — and Murray is now his position coach
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Kenneth Walker has been the engine of Kansas City's unbeaten start, and the numbers back it up: his 537 rushing yards are the most a player has amassed in the first four weeks of a season in the last 15 years, per the Chiefs on Thursday.
The mark edges the player he surpassed — and the coincidence is a good one. Walker's 537-yard start tops the 534 yards DeMarco Murray put up through four games with the Cowboys in 2014. That Murray now happens to be Walker's position coach: the Chiefs hired him as running backs coach last February after six seasons as Oklahoma's backs coach.
Walker has run the club to a 4-0 record heading into its Week 5 bye, with head coach Andy Reid's offense leaning heavily on the veteran back. Murray's 2014 season finished with a league-leading 1,845 rushing yards and 2,261 yards from scrimmage on 449 touches, so the bar for a full season is set high.
Whether Walker can approach that volume remains to be seen, but the early production has solidified him as one of the league's most productive backs — and given his current coach a familiar name at the top of the record list.