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Travon Walker heard the whispers during his rookie year: He’s a project. He’s a bust. He’s an interior defensive lineman, not an edge rusher. He’s hardly the answer for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And he’s certainly not Aidan Hutchinson.
He insists none has bothered him. Nonetheless, he used them as motivation.
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The 6-foot-5, 272-pound outside linebacker from Georgia looks superhuman at times. Blessed with a rare combination of size, strength and speed, Walker had a game-changing interception in his NFL debut and notched three quarterback hits in two postseason games.
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Given Jacksonville’s recent track record of first-round picks – the list includes C.J. Henderson (2020), Taven Bryan (2018), Blake Bortles (2014), Justin Blackmon (2012) and Blaine Gabbert (2011) – no one would be surprised if they chose the wrong guy again.
But the Jaguars are confident Walker will eventually be a better all-around defender – and more consistent getting to quarterbacks – than anyone drafted in 2022.
I think a lot of us believed that Walker was more of a ‘project.’ All of the tools and measurables, but hadn’t really been an elite rusher in college. It’s not a shock he would take time to develop.
He does seem to have a more ‘me first’ mentality (and a focus on external accolades rather than internal satisfaction) with the Hall of Fame thing. But a lot of guys have been successful with that mindset.
Part of the issue is something that is listed in the article. They called him an outside linebacker. I think the amount of time the Jags had Walker standing up and dropping was silly. Its cool as a wrinkle, but that kid needs to be attacking.
They just need to get him one go to move and one go to counter off of that move. He’s already got speed to power figured it out. I think he’s going to be really good but I also agree that the Jags are falling into the Jack of All trades strategy trap.
But that’s why they shouldn’t be having him do a bunch off the ball. Keep it simple. Put him at edge. Give him a rudimentary plan of attack with the technique to back it and I think he’ll be okay.
The things I said about the Lions when they won that last game and took us out of the 1 slot. Lots of bad things. Hutch was far and away my 1. Positional Need. Check. Positional Value. Check. Production. Check. Grit. Check. Thank you Jags.
Don’t get me wrong, pumped we got Hutch and Houston. But Walker did have some flashes last year, what is he 22 years old? He could be a complete stud before too long.
I always wanted Hutch, but I liked Walker more than Thibs.
