How a 22-Year-Old Draft Pick Can Establish His Place in the Chiefs 2026 Running Back Room
At the bare minimum, distance will be no problem for the new Chiefs running back Emmett Johnson. He spent his four years of college in Lincoln playing for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, just a three-hour drive away from Kansas City. The Chiefs scooped him up in the fifth round of the 2026 NFL Draft, the first offensive selection the team made that weekend, so it is clear that there was no desperation for offensive playmakers. Kansas City completely overhauled its running back room in 2026, letting old faces like Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco walk while bringing in fresh ones, headlined by Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III, to reignite the offense. With such a proven runner now manning the backfield, how can Johnson stand out?
The answer to this question lies in Johnson’s college days as a Cornhusker. After redshirting his first season in 2022, Johnson steadily increased his production over time as he had 411 rushing yards in 2023 and 598 in 2024 before exploding with 1,451 yards in 2025. This explosion was rewarded with First-Team All-Big Ten and All-American honors, and Johnson was named the Big Ten Running Back of the Year. The key to much of his success, though, was not his success on the ground, but through the air. In 2025, Johnson had the most catches of any player on his team with 46 and had the fourth most receiving yards with 370. For comparison, last season, Walker had just 31 catches for 282 yards while playing five more regular-season games than Johnson. One point for the rookie.
Now, by no means does this indicate that Johnson is a better running back than Walker. The former is a rookie picked in the fifth round, while the other is the reigning Super Bowl MVP. Not much of a contest right now. However, with Kansas City in need of some strong pass catchers, especially out of the backfield, Johnson could be the man who fills that void for the Chiefs. When they won their three championships in 2019, 2022, and 2023, the Chiefs always had a running back with excellent hands out of the backfield, like Damien Williams or Jerick McKinnon. This is no guarantee that the Chiefs are going to waltz into Sofi Stadium next season and continue their dynasty run, as nothing happened, but Johnson paired with Walker certainly improves their chances of bringing another trophy home to Chiefs Kingdom.
