Yes, an EDGE rusher who can’t beat the LT so they put him everywhere else because he couldn’t win there. That sort of illustrates my point. EDGE rushers go top 2 OA. 3t DT’s don’t. 5t/4-3 SDEs don’t. There is value to versatility, but KT has plenty of snaps inside showing the ability to move up and down the line as well. It’s why Flowers is gone. Because you don’t invest high end resources in versatility. You invest them on guys who have more TFL’s than games played.
you think the reason they moved Walker around was simply because he ‘couldn’t’ win there?
Dude played almost every defensive snap. 20% more than any other DL defender and had SEVEN pressures that game. He also ran 40 yards downfield from the IDL before the end of the half after a quick flare pass to save a TD. What other DE does that?
@3rdRGR not so sure about this. Georgias bench is better than most teams starters. Pretty sure if you are not awesome, the 5 star on the Bench takes your spot.
BTW though I’m defending a Walker pick, I still lean Thibodeaux. Of course I don’t know how they envision their defense to run.
As of now, I feel Thibodeaux isn’t that appealing a prospect for the Lions because of his weird behavior. This brass seems to want draft picks who live breathe and eat football.
I’d wager to say on the draft board vertically they have Ekwonu above Thibodeaux, but horizontally on the ‘need axis’, that would be a tough pick
Strangely, if they go Ekwonu, I’d almost like to see them take Hall or Walker III at 34. Then we suddenly have an identity as a smash mouth, run first offense that will control the clock and grind it out
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Von Miller has made a career out of “not beating the LT.”
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Yeah, but he’s had no trouble finding those sacks.
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Yes. I think if Walker was eating Neal’s lunch he would have had more than 12 snaps against him. I know they like to move guys around. But I think they do this to look for favorable matchups and they did not have that with Walker against Neal. I don’t think you can just dismiss that as “that’s just what they do” (move guys to move guys).
I won’t dismiss Walkers want to. Or the great run down play. I simply do not believe that Walker is the true pass rusher that KT is. Not trying to blow out the candle of Walker to make Tibb’s burn brighter. Walker is a Scottish Claymore and KT is a Katana. They can both cut you.
It’s Google time!!
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So 6’3 248lb Miller, who averaged 1.5 TFL per game and had 27.5 sacks over his final two seasons at A&M is your Walker comp?? Mmmmkaayyyyy…
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Sorry… Claymores weigh about 5.5lbs, the Katana 2.5-3lbs. It’s not a Katana being used, but check out the end fight scene in Rob Roy for a visual…
Walker
Tibbs
Hey, I toss things from left field in all the time, just because. I learned everything that’s important in kindergarten, but there’s a lot of interesting sh*t that I still don’t know.
Keep it up.
He’s my comp for a guy that spent a majority of his college and NFL career NOT lined up over the left tackle. And to you that means its because he wasn’t good enough, correct?
He was a fireball pass rusher in college with insane production. Comp that to Walker if you wish. With all 13 TFL’s in 32 games. Miller played DE and 3-4 OLB in college, but DE/3t comp… by all means. Miller had what it took to be a 2OA pick. Walker is no Miller dude. Sorry.
Nobody in the draft is Von Miller. Or for that matter JJ Watt who dropped to 11 in that draft.
Right, but KT is closer to Miller than Walker is.
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Agree 100%. I’m still shocked Watt dropped in that draft. NFL.com had him graded at 7.50 coming out. I don’t believe they have anyone In this draft graded over 7.0.
Ziggy
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Fair points. But considering he had seven pressures in that game, and that every game this year, they played him all over the line, I would contend that the assertion ‘they moved him because he didn’t generate sacks against Neal’ is misleading
Also, I think the characterization of ‘eating his lunch’ is inaccurate. What I saw was two elite players going toe to toe. The analyst also seemed to be slanting his analysis to Neal. Some of these battles that he says Neal ‘won’ he was getting bull rushed and the pocket was collapsing. Here’s what I saw, along with the narrators analysis:
Rep 1 - Walker drives Neal five yards back with a bull rush and the QB releases quickly with Walker tearing by and coming right in the QB grill. analysis ‘good rep from Neal’
Rep 2 - Offense runs away from them. Walker disengages the block to run down the line. analysis ‘inconsequential rep’
Rep 3 - Walker throws Neal down the ground immediately. The QB gets rid of the ball quickly. analysis ‘definitely a win for Walker’
Rep 4 - Play action away from Walker. They were engaged for about a second before Walker disengages. It was a quick pass. analysis ‘Neal wins the rep’ Looked like a wash to me
Rep 5 - Walker pushed Neal back six yards, flushes the QB, tosses Neal aside (while being held) and gets a QB hit as the QB scrambles and tosses a weak option pass. analysis ‘good recovery from Neal’ (wtf)
Rep 6 - Probably Neals best rep so far. He pushes Walker back a few yards while the rest of the GA defense collapses and tackles the RB for no gain. analysis ‘definitely a win for Neal’ This is one of the only times I see Walker lose ground while engaged.
Rep 7 - Designed run to Walkers gap. Walker swim moves past Neal, penetrates forcing the RB to abandon that gap and run for the edge. Walker sealed that gap and if Neal wasn’t holding may have had a TFL. The play goes for minimum yardage with the LBers converging. analysis ‘win for Walker’
Rep 8 - Walker crashes in and drives Neal back to collapse the pocket but it’s a designed QB keeper for a TD around the edge. analysis ‘beautiful best rep of the game for Neal’ (seems a bit gushy for a block that lost ground)
Seat Geek commercial (Promo code ‘Giant because Evan Neal is a giant’) no bias there
Rep 9 - Bullrush and Neal gets pushed back into the QBs face who has a quick throw dialed up. analysis ‘definitely a win for Walker’
Rep 10 - TE chip double team. quick pass. analysis ‘this rep doesn’t mean much’
Rep 11 - Quick slant. The ball is out immediately, they engage briefly. analysis ‘good rep for Neal’. Seemed inconsequential
Rep 12 - Quick sideline pass away from Walker. Walker burns Neal and blows by him. analysis, definitely a win for Walker
Rep 13 - Walker bull rushes and collapses the interior pocket. Neal stays engaged. The QB scrambles out of the pocket. analysis ‘good rep for Neal’
It seems to me having watched it closely Walker got the better of Neal more often than not. In any case I wouldn’t say Neal ‘ate his lunch’. Certainly didn’t see Neal pancake him the way we saw Hutch get pancaked by Sayler
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https://twitter.com/dpbrugler/status/1480904860040056832?s=20&t=s3pJdeg6uI0PKHxB-7hO7w
It’s been a while but I don’t remember Ziggy moving this fast. Maybe because he was always hurt
Travon Walker played a 51% snap share on the season…
Aiden Hutchinson played 1,891 career snaps over 4 years… He has 18.5 sacks… That is 1 sacks per every 100 plays…
Travon Walker has 9.5 sacks in just over 950 career snaps… Also 1 sacks per 100 snaps…
I would argue that Walker was on a trend where losing some talent around him at Georgia and being a senior would have likely resulted in 800 or so snaps next year, and likely 8-10 sacks.
Consider Hutch played in 7 more career games with a much higher snap share, and has 8 more sacks…
So we need the Hutch predominantly lined up to rush the passer, and T Walker did not. We know that Hutch did almost NOTHING until his senior season, and Walker hasn’t played a full season of PT, let alone his senior season.
Walker was on the all SEC Freshman team, and he did dominate in the BCS playoffs as junior…
If he came back and played a full year next year without so many guys fighting for his snaps, then I think we’d be looking at the same athletic freak, same ideal frame, but now with a 10 plus sack season on his resume’
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