Too Much David Walker Chatter
May 19th, 2026
“Pete, you work for CBS. Why is it people in Des Moines or Far Rockaway or Reno don’t want to hear about David Walker?”
It’s become a running joke on the “Ira Kaufman Podcast” that whenever Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht talks, he somehow veers into hyping David Walker.
In case you forgot, Walker was the Bucs’ fourth-round draft pick a year ago. Bucs defensive assistant Larry Foote became sort of famous locally when the Bucs’ selected Walker as the Bucs’ social media team caught Foote in the draft war room running up to Licht and hollering, “That’s how you win a Super Bowl!“
One Joe references on the podcast how Walker has yet to finish a padded practice in Tampa, and it would be nice to see him on a football field before knighting him as the next Jason Taylor. Sadly, Walker blew out a knee late in the Bucs’ first padded practice last summer.
Joe hopes Walker balls out this fall but that hope has to be rooted in something a little more tangible than blowing out candles on a birthday cake.
Since the end of the 2025 season, Licht has rarely passed on a chance to hype Walker. Joe is convinced Licht does that, in part, to boost Walker’s morale and confidence.
Sadly, Bucs fans also remember Licht’s hype of Chris Braswell after the 2024 season. As a result, Bucs fans wince hearing Licht brag up Walker, fearing a similar result.
Last week, when appearing on “Wakeup Barstool,” seen weekday mornings on FS1, Licht found out the hard way that America may not be locked in on Walker, a 2025 fourth-round draft pick from Arkansas State, who has yet to snap on a chin strap in a game.
Bucs superfan Steven Cheah, the “vice president of football operations” at Barstool, was among the show’s panel and he and Licht got into a discussion about Walker. Cheah said, “Everybody this time of year is going to want to talk to you about Rueben Bain. I want to hear about David Walker.”
Unfortunately, the FS1 audience isn’t a Bucs-focused demographic like WDAE or WFLA-TV Channel 8. And speaking of a fourth-round pick from a small school who hasn’t played yet likely sent most viewers into a Twilight Zone-like trance.
After Licht spoke glowingly about Walker, the show’s host, “T-Bob,” sort of apologized to the national FS1 audience and tried to delicately change the subject while not offending Licht — who is a friend of the Barstool gang.
(“T-Bob” played offensive line at LSU and his father is former slimy Saints quarterback and USFL Michigan Panthers legend Bobby Hebert.)
“So, so, you know, in your job, wins and losses are built around the margins, right?” T-Bob began. “It’s like all the way down to the [bottom of the] 53-man roster.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know if much of our audience is too locked in on David Walker, last year’s fourth round pick — SO I WILL ASK YOU ABOUT BAKER MAYFIELD!”
The rest of the panel then began mocking Cheah, as one panelist said, “Yeah, OK, I will ask the boring ones… “
Cheah responded, “[Walker is] going to be great!”
Joe gets both sides. Licht is proud of his picks. And he may very well be right about Walker’s production. Joe hopes so, too. But as Howard Stern once said, the biggest challenge in broadcast media is to get people to put down the remote.
Outside of Bucs fans, just about nobody cares about Walker or any fourth-round pick that hasn’t played (unless he did something salacious or had a tryst with Dianna Russini).
T-Bob was in a no-win situation. He didn’t want to p!ss off Licht but had to keep the show moving.
Now if Walker blows up like Licht is confident he will, then the Barstool gang will beg for Licht to come back and talk about Walker non-stop.
May 19th, 2026 at 9:09 am
If the past is the best predictor of the future, and it is, I fully expect Buster Walker to be a big fat zero. Will he be as bad and useless as Braswell? Time will tell but probably so. If we can get JTS level of production from him then he won’t be a wasted pick. I will be (extremely) happy to be wrong.
May 19th, 2026 at 9:09 am
David Walker will be 30 years old, before he gets the feel of the NFL
May 19th, 2026 at 9:12 am
The guy has NEVER played against top college players….
May 19th, 2026 at 9:15 am
JL is so excited about DW long arms!
May 19th, 2026 at 9:15 am
Time will tell. Bucs need preseason injuries to be minimal for a change.
May 19th, 2026 at 9:26 am
He’s got the same chance as the local weatherman of being right. Maybe less! Being a huge Bucs fan, I do hope he’s right!
May 19th, 2026 at 9:27 am
Would sure be wild if both Bain and Walker are great!
I would almost feel sorry for our opposing quarterbacks. Almost, but not really…
May 19th, 2026 at 9:35 am
If history serves, our 5-6 OLBs will get only 2200 TOTAL defensive snaps among them this year. And IF there are any beasts among them, that beast (or beasts as in the cases of JPP & Shaq) will get the preponderance of those 2200 snaps.
So IF Bain turns out to be a 3-down beast, and Diaby joins him in that department, just how many def snaps remain for Walker, Muhammad, Nelson & Braswell? As soon as you don’t protect any of those 4 by keeping them on the active roster, they’d be snatched up by another team in a heartbeat.
My gut feeling is that Todd Bowles will keep 6 OLBs to start the season, but (as always seems to happen) 1 of them will end up on IR before the first handful of games is complete. And to keep them ‘fresh’, Todd will establish a rotation (favoring the most productive of course).
May 19th, 2026 at 9:38 am
I want to hear about David Walker? Wtf no, even I as a buc fan don’t want to hear about David walker who hasn’t even finished one padded practice.
May 19th, 2026 at 10:00 am
This difference this season is that Licht is not solely relying on Walker like he did with past failures. He actually brought in competition via free agency and the draft. So whoever ends up playing will have actually earned it by beating out the competition.
May 19th, 2026 at 10:02 am
Evidently, Licht doesn’t place much value on credibility.
May 19th, 2026 at 10:07 am
I’d actually like to hear more about David Walker, there’s so much to figure out about how and where he’ll fit in. Nevermind having damn near a year off to acclaimate to the pro process. Football hasn’t changed much since he was last on the field, and he’s going to get opportunities to earn his keep
May 19th, 2026 at 10:12 am
Regardless, Walker isn’t going to take Yays’s spot or Bain’s.
So, he will a partime backup rotational guy who gets a very low percentage of the snaps.
So, he will need to maximize every opportunity and we’ll see if he gets any production playing 10% of the snaps. I hope he is great.
May 19th, 2026 at 10:20 am
I also do not mind hearing about Walker. Not that it makes the top 100 things I am interested in my life or anything – its just moreso that I do not want Braswell to play a defensive snap ever again, unless all of our edge options have broken legs, and at that point the season would be toast anyway
May 19th, 2026 at 10:28 am
Walker Who
May 19th, 2026 at 10:28 am
Walker Who’s That
May 19th, 2026 at 10:36 am
Brasswell was shamelessly hyped last year also. Then a funny thing happened. They played a few Games and this guy wound up on a milk carton. I honestly don’t think Brasswell will make the roster this year unless there’s lots of injuries. I wouldn’t get too excited about Walker just yet. Bain, on the other hand…now this guy I am ecstatic about. Yeah, he hasn’t played any games yet either. Expectations are vastly different between an earlyish first round pick and an earlyish day 3 pick.
May 19th, 2026 at 10:43 am
I would like to hear more about Walker too…
what made him an intriguing prospect?..
what are some of the things that he does well?
does he have quickness and power?
what are some of his go to moves?..spin?..bull rush?..rip n dip?
what are the things he has to work on?
looking at Walkers measurables, he’s comparable to Nik Bonitto from the broncos…can he rush like Nik?…that would be awesome
GO BUCS!!!!!
May 19th, 2026 at 10:44 am
At this point are opposing qbs losing any sleep yet? Wake me up when that happens. All we got is hope. Go Bucs
May 19th, 2026 at 10:53 am
gofortheface30 … ‘its just moreso that I do not want Braswell to play a defensive snap ever again’.
Every player IMO has certain strengths … and weaknesses. Chris Braswell played relatively few def snaps in 2024 AND 2025 (329 & 283 def snaps respectively), but what we don’t know is how he was being used by this defensive staff. Was he sent in on all passing downs? All running downs?
Looking at his stats, I’d say that he was used more on running downs than on passing downs. Probably for good reason: he’s actually very good playing the run, but others are obviously better playing against the pass. And he actually improved quite a bit in 2025 (not many Bucs can say that). Look at his numbers …
o 2024: 17 games – 329 def snaps – 189 S/T snaps … 1.5 sacks – 8 QB hits – 1 FF – 1 TFL – 18 tackles (11 solo) – 5.3% Miss Tackle
o 2025: 17 games – 283 def snaps – 202 S/T snaps … 1.0 sacks – 4 QB hits – 4 TFL – 30 tackles (21 solo) – 3.2% Miss Tackle
I assume that most of those solo tackles especially came against the run. Chris had a very low 3.2% Missed Tackle Percentage (YaYa’s was 9.1% last season … almost 3 times what Braswell’s was).
More than like Braswell won’t get a bunch of def snaps this year either with YaYa, Bain & Muhammad in front of him as pass rushing OLBs. Still, looks to me like he can play a valuable role IF they use him wisely.
May 19th, 2026 at 11:02 am
But DR, what about the sacks? DLs and OLBs suck if they can’t get a ton of sacks, right?
🙄
Not only do I hope Bain balls out, but I would really like to see Muhammed and Walker thrive along with the Diaby taking a step forward. Having more solid OLBs is a good problem to have. I hope we have that very nice problem.
May 19th, 2026 at 11:07 am
Jack Burton Mercer Says:
If the past is the best predictor of the future, and it is, I fully expect Walker to be a big fat zero.
^^^^^^^^^^^
Agreed. Injuries and the NFL don’t mix well. They typically recur.
These Players are Highly Likely to Go Down with Injury:
>Baker Mayfield
>Calijah Kancey
>Ben Morrison
>David Walker
>Cody Mauch
>Ben Bredeson
May 19th, 2026 at 11:17 am
Still a little bit concerned about corners. But Morrison and McCollum might someday be remembered as the M&M maulers. How, you ask? When QBs are pressed, corners can play better. Lots better. Anzalone was excited in his first press conference about blitzing more. DR says Todd will establish a rotation. Wouldn’t that be nice? It’s exactly what we’re going to do. I haven’t seen our DLine, interior and edges, near this potential the last 3 years. Walker is a different beast than Braswell. Watch tape. Walker and Bain might be better than Diaby and Muhammad. Vea and Robinson and Kancey flushing those birds off their nests into that rotation of pass rushers? It’s not too hard figuring out JL and TB’s plans for this defense. Pressure the QB. Job 1. Make no mistake about it. That was the glaring weakness these last several years and Rome wasn’t built overnight. But this year all 3 levels have skillset to hound QBs. This is my 4th season following this team. Nobody’s got 10 sacks. Or even close. Bain, Diaby, Kancey, Muhammad, and yes, Walker could get 10 sacks this year. When the first of those guys do that, I’m opening a bottle and we’re gonna celebrate here at the house. And I ain’t whistling Dixie.
May 19th, 2026 at 11:22 am
Mark me down as saying David Walker will probably be a decent rotational player.
May 19th, 2026 at 11:44 am
Kenton Smith … ‘It’s not too hard figuring out JL and TB’s plans for this defense. Pressure the QB. Job 1.’
Tigers can’t change their stripes Kenton. Todd Bowles Job #1 has always been … STOP THE RUN. I can’t see him changing his long-time philosophy this year.
What will change IMO is HOW he generates a pass rush. With 3 DLinemen … Vea, Robinson & Kancey … PLUS 2 OLBs the Bucs now have the beef to create a solid pass rush WITHOUT compromising Run Defense. Gut feel is that if everything goes ‘as planned’ we’ll see a lot fewer exotic blitzes this year. We SHOULD have the defensive strength up-front to rush 4-5 consistently & create a viable pass rush.
May 19th, 2026 at 11:52 am
DR. So you have to be a killjoy? I wanna see QBs running for their lives. But yeah. You’re right.
May 19th, 2026 at 11:54 am
Let’s not mention his name again until he gets more sacks than Brasswell.
OK? Jason can’t help himself.
May 19th, 2026 at 11:57 am
In his defense, we were all excited about him until he got hurt.
May 19th, 2026 at 12:01 pm
“Tigers can’t change their stripes Kenton. Todd Bowles Job #1 has always been … STOP THE RUN. I can’t see him changing his long-time philosophy this year.”
Yup, can’t expect to rush the passer if the run game is clicking against you.
Anybody that’s watched this system or has any understanding of what makes it tick, should know that.
“With 3 DLinemen … Vea, Robinson & Kancey … PLUS 2 OLBs the Bucs now have the beef to create a solid pass rush WITHOUT compromising Run Defense.”
We do this already and Bowles uses it to manipulate OL protection to put the OL in possession to guess wrong. Also drop our DL/OLBs out of these looks to rush 4 or blitz a backer/nickel/CB. We overload the LOS alot out of this, and you’ll see some funky splits where the off-ball backer lines up over a guard.
The only problem with it is, once that 3rd WR comes on the field you’ve got to take a DLmen off the LOS and bring that nickel in, that’s where having Keionte Scott on this team will come into play. 5-1-5, but post snap it can function like a 4-2-5 when that OLB drops or that nickel/safety comes into the box.
That’s why the whole deal with Trotter makes more sense, because you can go more cover friendly leave Anzalone on the field and sub Scott in for Josiah. Now you still have the same range, comparable physicality but also the protection of having a more coverage inclined player like Scott in for Trotter.
May 19th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
Kenton … I apologize; didn’t mean to knock the wind out of your pass rush sails. With the ‘beef’ we’ve now got though, there’s no excuse for the middle of this DLine NOT creating havoc in the interior. That alone SHOULD do 2 things: (1) cause the QB to favor quick releases for short passes; or (2) cause the QB to move laterally as opposed to stepping up in the pocket. Our OLBs are decent at sealing the edges, so I’m expecting to see opposing offenses attempting a lot of quick release/dink-and-dunk OR just running against us more to see if that’s effective. Can’t wait to see how this 2026 defense REALLY performs.
May 19th, 2026 at 12:31 pm
DR, check this link out. Speaks directly to your point on the 5-man fronts
May 19th, 2026 at 12:31 pm
I would like to see big things out of Walker. Even if he registered 3 sacks, it is more than Reddick who was nothing but an injured ghost of his former self. If we had 4 edge’s with 10 sacks that would be game changing. If our DL takes the next step we will be in the playoffs.
May 19th, 2026 at 12:35 pm
And another.
May 19th, 2026 at 12:37 pm
walker just walked off the field
May 19th, 2026 at 12:48 pm
Lots of hype and hope for an older, mid pick, smaller dude at a small school coming of an injury. Oh, he don’t play last year. The way some talk hes the next LT.
Seems like the front office and staff have been hoping and hyping with little measurable results..
Kinda tired of his name until I see his performances.
May 19th, 2026 at 1:02 pm
David who?
May 19th, 2026 at 1:03 pm
Since he wasn’t picked in the second round, he has shot at greatness…
May 19th, 2026 at 1:13 pm
So much negativity from low iq supposed to be buc fans
May 19th, 2026 at 1:18 pm
I don’t know about David Walker, but after watching the Bucs last season I was drinking plenty of Johnny Walker!
May 19th, 2026 at 1:27 pm
At this point Jason’s hype has to be interpreted as a player really needing to show improvement and not a strength at all
May 19th, 2026 at 1:29 pm
What other late round draftee from 2025 that has never been on a NFL field for a game snap should we talk about?
May 19th, 2026 at 1:31 pm
Yep, Walker being out for the season is why we did not win the Superbowl.
May 19th, 2026 at 1:32 pm
For edge guys, talk is cheap. Production on the other hand can produce massive gain$!!! Just ask the Bosas. Produce and make real big buck$!!!
This challenge goes out to all the outside linebackers in that room!!! Whether they are the season vets, rookies, or second year guys!!!!! PRODUCE!!!!!!
May 19th, 2026 at 1:46 pm
Yes, let’s waste ungodly amounts of time and energy discussing a guy from a third rate college that can’t make an NFL practice field.
No wonder Larry Foote sprayed his shorts over the guy.
NFC South titles = SB titles in Bowles land.
But much like David Walker, the defense never reached the field in 2025.
Good thing we kept our Guru DC around to keep the scheme in place.
May 19th, 2026 at 1:50 pm
David Walker and Rueben Bain are almost exactly the same size. Both a hair over 6’2” and 263 lbs. Maybe we get incredibly lucky and get Godzilla in Tokyo coming from both sides! Stranger things have happened.
May 19th, 2026 at 1:53 pm
JL was also hyping Brasswell last year…how’d that turn out!? At some point all you start hearing is…blah, blah, blah, blah!
May 19th, 2026 at 1:55 pm
Best ability is availability….sh!t or get off the pot, we’ll move on. Bad injury his rook year, so i get it i guess? If still injured they better not try. It was a 4th rounder…have to round out the best 53 spots though. I hope he makes it.
May 19th, 2026 at 1:59 pm
I know when Joe writes a hater blog. David Walker will be the next Robert Mathis! Watch!
May 19th, 2026 at 2:06 pm
We all hope Walker becomes a great player. Time will tell.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know if much of our audience is too locked in on David Walker, last year’s fourth round pick — SO I WILL ASK YOU ABOUT BAKER MAYFIELD!”
That’s the answer I want hear from Licht.
May 19th, 2026 at 2:08 pm
Wow thats is a lot of replies from folks in a Walker article that don’t want to talk about Walker.
May 19th, 2026 at 2:12 pm
“Wow thats is a lot of replies from folks in a Walker article that don’t want to talk about Walker.”
Some people love football teams as brands, as much if not more than they like football teams for football players or football itself.
May 19th, 2026 at 2:37 pm
Warren Brooks Lynch … ‘DR, check this link out. Speaks directly to your point on the 5-man fronts’.
The Joes rarely let folks send links in their comments WBL.
May 19th, 2026 at 2:57 pm
“The Joes rarely let folks send links in their comments WBL”
Odd, because I put the link in the “website” field and it’s attached to the post by clicking on the name.
Anywho, if you ever get the time look up “matchquarters”, coach Cody does alot of interesting scheme and concept breakdowns and I’ve speculated for years that he’s a bucs fan because a ton of his videos are based around things our defense does.
The links I tried sending is one of our boss/bear front, and how it’s used to like you explain to not just set the conditions to sack the QB, but backloaded coverage that’ll make a QB think he’s throwing where his man should be. Really interesting stuff, and shows you how all 11 staying on script and being where they should props a principle/concept up post-snap.
May 19th, 2026 at 3:42 pm
Nice links WBL 👍🏼
Would be good viewing for the crew that habitually screams for Todd’s head and oversimplifies the game, and defense specifically. Or any Bucs fan really.
Looking forward to seeing what Todd can do with the talent upgrades.
May 19th, 2026 at 5:11 pm
@Jack
Griping about the scheme without having to prove how much you know about it from the perspective of a spectator is easy. Seeing players play poorly in the scheme and still griping about the scheme is a choice.
Trying to understand it from the same perspective, is not as easy.
Coach Cody is awesome and a big part of why I follow him is that a good amount of his older film work was mostly Bucs tape. So he’s either a fan of the Bucs or Bowles or likely both.
May 19th, 2026 at 5:53 pm
That’s been my biggest issue with the Todd sucks gang…. They attack the defense but show no interest in learning specifics or in understanding what they’re attacking.
It’s willfull ignorance. They could learn more but they choose not to.
May 19th, 2026 at 6:31 pm
Its just that all talk
May 19th, 2026 at 7:23 pm
Amd you logged on to talk more about “all talk”. Classic
May 19th, 2026 at 8:08 pm
I’m not confident about Walker at all…but I hope he end up blowing us away.
May 19th, 2026 at 8:20 pm
What “specifics” are we missing?????
Specifically Bowles sucks and the proof is his record.
Boy, that was easy!!!!!
May 19th, 2026 at 9:39 pm
LynchMob50
……. Amen……..