Sneaky Speed From David Walker
May 17th, 2025
Quicker than advertised?
Last week, when Bucs defensive coaches spoke, there was one quote from Bucs outside linebackers coach Larry Foote that stuck out for Joe.
Foote was raving about fourth-round pick, outside linebacker David Walker from Central Arkansas. (Joe thinks there may be some ordinance that it’s encouraged, if not required, to mention Walker’s college until the guy gets a sack in a real NFL game.) As Foote praised Walker, he slipped the following in.
“You don’t really know how quick he [is] until rookie minicamp,” Foote said. “You can see it.”
This brings a smile to Joe’s face. Speed kills. And it reminded Joe of a story of Chris Godwin.
Godwin, when he entered the NFL in the third round of the 2017 draft, wasn’t known as a burner. But if you watched Penn State games (specifically the 2017 Rose Bowl against USC), Godwin was able to get open despite facing quick defensive backs such as Adoree’ Jackson.
After Godwin’s rookie season, head coach Dirk Koetter remarked that he was surprised by Godwin’s speed. It didn’t show up on 40 times necessarily, but it snuck up on Koetter watching Penn State tape and Godwin brought that sneaky speed to the Bucs.
If Walker actually does play faster than his combine speed, that’s just good scouting. As Tez Johnson said last week when asked about his ho-hum combine times, “The game is not about a 40.”
May 17th, 2025 at 11:21 am
OK Coach I wanna hear it and see it in camp please. Get him coached up sir!
LFG
Go Bucs!
May 17th, 2025 at 11:31 am
If this guy turns out to be the steal of the draft it could put some pressure on Braswell to become relevant and enter a rotation with Reddick, Yaya and Nelson with Braswell falling down the depth chart if he does not turn the corner and put up some numbers.
May 17th, 2025 at 11:42 am
Bowles has done a solid job picking OC’s the last couple of seasons. He seems to have a knack for evaluating coaches. I think moving Larry Foote to OLB coach could be a huge coaching move. If Larry can develop the young edge guys and bring Reddick back to his Philly form, then sacks and picks will follow.
Sometimes a change of venue, or a change in coaches, refreshes players and I hope Strong can do the same with the DL. Maybe a couple of Strong’s different ideas can enhance the DL and elevate their game too.
May 17th, 2025 at 11:42 am
Braswell = JTS ?????
May 17th, 2025 at 11:55 am
I live in Arkansas now. I hope Walker will make more Bucs games broadcast here. I am so sick of Dallas games and listening to so much radio. I am sure looking for a sensational season from him.
May 17th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
can he play linebacker?
May 17th, 2025 at 12:46 pm
Sneaky fast, huh?
That, along with how he hits like a freight train!
I’ll take it!
Really looking forward to seeing what David can do come September.
May 17th, 2025 at 12:54 pm
For David Walker being 265 lbs, running a 4.69 is pretty fast.
May 17th, 2025 at 12:55 pm
Fire 🔥 todd
May 17th, 2025 at 1:05 pm
I live outside the US, Try firstrowsports for streaming buc games live
May 17th, 2025 at 1:11 pm
Jerry becker, he might be able to. Lord knows he will get his share of drop backs in Todd’s zone blitz calls. But he’s a tad on the heavy side for that full time at 6’1″ 261. As in outside LB they might not want him to lose much weight, if not gain.
May 17th, 2025 at 1:28 pm
Meet your new strong safety disguised as a DE.
May 17th, 2025 at 1:29 pm
DL & edges should be judged in 10 and 20 yd. sprints.
May 17th, 2025 at 1:33 pm
Once camp and heat kicks in he will probably play in the 250ish range.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:08 pm
Godwin ran a 4.42 40 at the combine, so his speed definitely showed up in his 40 time.
I remember thinking that we got a burner when we drafted Godwin. I didn’t realize how strong and powerful he was until he got onto the field.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:10 pm
What a game that 2017 Rose Bowl game was . Sam Darnold had 453yds 5Tds , Saquon Barkley had 25 carries for 192yds 2Tds , Chris Godwin had 9catches for 187yds 2 TDS . If anyone watched that game you knew what type of player Godwin was.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:13 pm
Chris Braswell is the guy who’s going to make the big jump this year, if David Walker pushes him for time it will be a great thing. Love the Competition we have at all positions.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:17 pm
BucsfaninOregon … ‘Braswell = JTS ?????’
Wow, looks like up in the far Northwest, fans are really hard on rookies. Braswell didn’t set the world on fire last season (as a rookie) with sacks, but then again neither did any of our veteran OLBs. Diaby got 4.5 sacks in 783 def snaps (1 sack every 174 def snap). Nelson got 4 sacks in 573 def snaps (1 sack every 143 def snaps). JTS got 2 sacks in 539 def snaps (1 sack every 270 def snaps). For his part, Braswell got 1.5 sacks in 329 def snaps (1 sack every 219 def snaps). Not as good as Diaby or Nelson (neither of whom set the OLB world on fire either), but not as bad as JTS (who was a lot more ‘seasoned’ than the rookie Braswell & in a contract year).
Looks like only 17 players had 10 or more sacks in 2024. That’s roughly what, 1 every 2 teams. Not very many. Everyone wants a Shaq who can get 19.5 sacks in a single season, but that’s rare. Even for Shaq BTW. He had 19.5 sacks in 2019 (first year here playing under Todd Bowles and with Vea & Suh & JPP out there with him), and also 10 sacks in 2021 (with same 3 players). Other than that, Shaq never came close to 10 sacks in a season. Disregarding 2024 (barely played) and disregarding those 2 years (19.5 & 10 sacks), Shaq got a total of 29.5 sacks in his other 7 years. A tad over 4 sacks per year. Hmmm, that’s what JTS averaged in his first 3 years.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:31 pm
AlabamaBucsFan … ‘For David Walker being 265 lbs, running a 4.69 is pretty fast.’
What an opportunity you by-passed to brag on our Alabama Edge Chris Braswell. He’s 260 lbs and ran a 4.60 sec 40 in his Combine. Almost a tenth of a second faster should translate to, oh, maybe 5 sacks a year?
Chris is gonna have a good year. I’ve pretty much convinced myself that Todd Bowles’ staff spends our OLBs’ rookie years teaching them how to defend the run and the pass. Not allowed on the field if they can’t do that to Todd’s satisfaction. Once they demonstrate that though, Todd turns ’em loose in the pass rush.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:46 pm
I just hope Bowles doesn’t stunt the young guys by playing guys like JTS (last year) and Anthony Nelson instead of them. Braswell should’ve been playing most of the JTS snaps last year, IMO.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:59 pm
Plus they strength train for a year which is very significant.
May 17th, 2025 at 4:21 pm
Walker is coming for YaYa’s job, iron sharpens iron may the best man win.