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Position rank 4, Big board 45, shades of Devondre Campbell

Walker barely was the field his first couple
seasons before he became a rotational
player in 2020 and a starter in 2021. He was
utilized in a blitz heavy role. He was even
capable enough in that regard that Walker
was trusted as a true edge player in certain
packages. He has the kind of length that
can drop down and set the edge in a
pinch. While he doesn't have a ton of highend plays on tape, Walker didn't take a lot
of downgrades either. His 42 downgraded
plays in 2021 were the third-fewest of any
FBS linebacker that played 800+ snaps.


PROS
One of the best tacklers in the class. Traits to
continue in the NFL.
Ø Smooth explosiveness. Moves like a slot corner,
but at 240+ pounds.
Ø Length to give tight ends fits. Had a passbreakup on Treylon Burks

CONS
v Reactive, not proactive player. Has to see it to
attack it.
v Feet can get heavy mirroring laterally. Not
always on balance.
v Not a downhill player in the run game. Only
solo one tackle for loss in 2021 and was only -1
yard.

Walker has that unique ability to show off high end athleticism consistently without ever looking
reckless. He knows when he needs to turn it on and when to be patient with it.
CONTROLLED PHYSICALITY

Ideally you want Walker blitzing or playing man coverage. Just let his physical tools take over
and he's a problem for opposing offenses.
MAN-HEAVY LB

It's not a processing speed problem with Walker on tape, but rather knowing consistently what's
coming next. With only one-year as a starter, though, there's reason to believe that will come in
time.

Bottom Line
There's a lot of reasons to think Walker could be a more impactful NFL
player than college player. He's a 3-down player.

MickeyDavis wrote:

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M-C-G wrote:

MickeyDavis wrote:

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There is a lot to like about this guy, seems like he might be a hidden gem on that Georgia defense.

It’s easy (and fun) to clown on the Packers for not selecting a wide receiver to offset Sir Moans A lot. But at this spot on the board, there was little value in the receiver class. There are lots of targets the Packers can look at one day two that would have constituted a reach had they grabbed one in this spot.

Adding Walker to a linebacker corps featuring De’Vondre Campbell is flat-out unfair. Walker has the potential to be the steal of the draft. In the course of the nation’s love affair with teammate Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker was too often lost in the shuffle. He was the second rank corner on my board, ahead of Dean, who slipped out of the first round altogether.

The pre-draft question with Walker was whether or not a team would correctly identify his role. Among this year’s linebackers, he is as gifted in an off-ball, coverage, keep-me-clean prospect as there is. In that role, he has the potential to be a star.

And it’s just that role that the Packers have selected Walker to play. It’s the style they embraced with De’Vondre Campbell, who went from free agent afterthought to destroyer of worlds in a Green Bay system that asked him to play see-ball-get-ball football from depth, rather than attacking the line of scrimmage as a pulling-guard-detonator.

Georgia used Walker as their space eradicator, sliding Walker out into the spot known as the ‘Apex Cover Down’, the spot between the offensive tackle and slot receiver. It’s known in coaching parlance as the RPO-eraser, the corridor that teams like to target on quick-breaking RPOs with slant and post patterns.



Back to the earlier points on linebackers writ large, Walker profiles as an off-ball, see-it-find-it linebacker in Bear fronts. He isn’t someone who can slide down to the edge in the pros; he just lacks the in-line play strength to stand up tackles, who can comfortably gallop over his smaller frame.

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That’s fine! Find out what players do and put them in positions to succeed. Walker is a ferocious blitzer, someone who can comfortably mug along any of the interior gaps in pressure packages or slip over to the edge in zone-pressure situations.

His real value, however, will come in coverage. Walker is one of the few who can really move in space and match up to tight ends — he has the agility, length, and smarts to read and redirect, and then match bigger-bodied tight ends at the catch-point.

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He has long arms and is comfortable muddying up passing lanes. And his ability to shift from blitzer to dropper without blinking (as comfortable attacking the pocket as he is sliding into space) will make him a real weapon in zone-pressure packages where he is mugged down on the line – the key to those looks being that the offense really thinks the pressure is coming. If your backer is a poor blitzer, offenses aren’t as worried.

Walker’s strengths marry up perfectly with where the NFL is currently at – and the Packers are looking to be at the forefront of that evolution. He is essentially an oversized safety who will allow teams to run what they traditionally would from a three-safety set but with a linebacker body on the field. In the Packers system he will be a star – and quickly.

LittleRooster wrote:Where is that breakdown from? It’s great


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ReasonablySober wrote:While that paints a rosy picture of Walker's potential, it should be known that he was among the worst ILBs likely to be drafted in coverage last season, giving up a 99.7 passer rating. QBs were 30/35 against him.

RRyder823 wrote:

ReasonablySober wrote:While that paints a rosy picture of Walker's potential, it should be known that he was among the worst ILBs likely to be drafted in coverage last season, giving up a 99.7 passer rating. QBs were 30/35 against him.

Yeah I'm not getting all these reports about how he's gonna be great in coverage. We wasn't great in coverage and stuggled in space. He has the tools to be but thats different then the scouting reports would suggest

Hopefully they can coach him up in that department

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