David Walker Snap Count Madness Vs. Steelers
October 19th, 2026
Restricted.
The numbers are in.
The Bucs’ most impactful Bucs defensive player on a per-snap basis — and possibly overall — played just 28 snaps yesterday against the Steelers in an overtime loss. That doubled his season average!
Joe is referring to David Walker, the second-year edge rusher who is living up to the hype but continues to be restricted by Todd Bowles.
“I put on the film and I watch David Walker — and he’s only getting what, 30 or 35 snaps a game, maybe that. — every single one of them is a meaningful snap, dude. Like he impacts games like every time he’s on the field,” Bucs legend Rondé Barber said last week.
Of course, Barber was wrong on the snaps numbers because disbelief is the standard and sane reaction to Walker not playing more. Before Sunday, Walker was averaging 14 snaps per game.
Yesterday, Walker played only 35 percent of the defensive snaps and logged his third and fourth sacks of the season. Nobody else on the Bucs has more than one sack. And yes, Walker has shown he can play the run and drop in coverage successfully.
The irony of Walker riding the bench too often is the significant offseason hype of Walker by Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht — and further irony is Barber is paid by the Buccaneers to break down film.
Joe wonders if Licht is punching pillows and inhaling sedatives thinking about where the Bucs, masters of close game losses, might be in the standings if Walker simply was allowed to play more often. And that’s time Walker earned not only this season, but throughout training camp.
October 19th, 2026 at 11:41 am
He caused an INT in Dallas. This is the smoking gun the Glazers need to comfortably move on. Well, that and Bowles’s losing record over many years as a coach here and elsewhere.
October 19th, 2026 at 11:42 am
Your obsession with Walker is quite comical.
October 19th, 2026 at 11:43 am
This is just another example of coaching malpractice.
October 19th, 2026 at 11:49 am
It has been obvious all year. Walker is the best pass rusher on the team and Bowles keeps putting Anthony Nelson on the field.
October 19th, 2026 at 11:50 am
What kind of idiotic mental gymnastics do you have to do to not start the most impactful edge rusher we have. It’s like Bowles decided he wants to hold a sign over his head that says “Look at me, I can make crazy decisions and nothing happens to me. Idiots!”
October 19th, 2026 at 11:51 am
Hodad, why would you call that an obsession? He’s clearly the most productive player on defense and even more productive given his limited snaps. He’s the only player that’s been living up to the hype he’s had. It’s an obsession to want that player to play more than a handful of snaps? A player who somehow leading the team in sacks by a lot with less than half the snaps of the other edge guys? An obsession? I think it’s simply wanting the current best player on our defense from a sack and pressure perspective. At least, to get more chances to do what he’s done well, more.
October 19th, 2026 at 11:54 am
What did you expect? Poor coaching
October 19th, 2026 at 11:56 am
Chase McLaughlin
David Walker
Jacob Parrish
ARob
That’s it, that’s the list of players who have consistently performed. Everyone else has been either inconsistent or just straight up bad.
October 19th, 2026 at 11:59 am
David Walker earned starting reps. I remember that clip of the front office amd coaches getting hyped about drafting Walker. Now he has dominated training camp, and followed that up by being our best Edge defender in 5 games (Didn’t even get a snap week 1), and they are still treating him like a role player. Can’t wait to get rid of this coaching staff. If we end this season with a new coaching staff and Jeremiah Smith I will consider it a great success
October 19th, 2026 at 12:01 pm
I would argue that Zion has performed well this year as well as Tykee Smith but the list is short. No one on the offensive side of the ball has performed well, including Wirfs.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:03 pm
How could I forget about Trotter. He’s probably been our best defensive player this season. Also AShawn Robinson has been a good free agent signing.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:06 pm
Todd knows that other guys do the other things better, and that’s why the defense is playing better this year.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:07 pm
This reminds of when yaya diaby was a rookie, and all you same guys was begging for him to get more snaps.. which he eventually got… then what? Yaya was more productive as a part time rookie than a full time
Vet. Or how about yall begging for more kj britt instead of devin white, or how about the constant questions asking when sirvocea dennis would be ready to start after being injured early in his career…
Dare I mention the infatuation with JJ roberts? Logan hall and braswell were sure to light it up under defensive mastermind demeco ryans right? Devin Culp is a beast right? He will be sure to shine on another team! Give bucky more carries than rashaad white, wait.. give sean tucker more carries and less for bucky…. Wait.. we have all this talent all we need is coaching…. Wait.. winfield, vea, and godwin, baker, the interior Line are washed… we need to play 4-3, wait why isnt keonte scott on the field. Bain needs to play inside, wait why isnt vita and ashawn robinson on the field? Play david walker.. yaya is a bust… Jason Licht is a good GM Pound for pound the worst fan base in football.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:11 pm
The amount of snap counts Walker is getting would be akin to a backup playing behind an All-Pro pass rusher. Walker should be out there for every passing down.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:20 pm
Can’t wait till we fire Bowles and hopefully GM, this is hard to watch and making me stressed out every Sunday!
October 19th, 2026 at 12:21 pm
941, I think most of us feel your frustration. Certainly the true fans. And you’re right about some of those situations. Of course. I’m not sure Walker fits that scenario. The closest analog would be Yaya. And though he’s not a great pass rusher he is a decent linebacker. I think it’s clear that Walker has more talent as a pass rusher. He showed it in college as well as now. Yaya was just okay as a pass rusher in college. He never had more than 10 sacks in a season at Louisville. And really didn’t have many at all until his senior season. Walker has had sacks at every level. And he’s already shown that he can play the position aside from being a rusher. That’s why I think the fan base wants him to get more reps. Pretty simple.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:21 pm
This is evidence that it’s less Licht not providing talent and more Todd not using them correctly.
Clearly.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:26 pm
Saving Walker for the playoffs
October 19th, 2026 at 12:29 pm
defensive malpractice.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:30 pm
it must be because he can’t drop back and cover WR2.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:32 pm
He’s smaller than Diaby and Bain. Walker is going to be a passing down guy until Diaby finds $ elsewhere next season.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:33 pm
Again, 5 sacks by our defense and we still LOST
Maybe if they counted for points this “outrage” would make a little more sense, but I’d trade any 1 of those 5 sacks for another turnover or a pick 6/scoop n score. Walker had 2 less snaps than Rueben Bain and was the 3rd most used OLB, what’s the problem?
“This Joe” isn’t so sure he wants to see Walker get more than five sacks. Why? That may mean someone is hurt and Walker is getting more snaps than planned.”
Well?
October 19th, 2026 at 12:35 pm
Everything coming out this team is malpractice including the glazers keeping Todd after a team collapse.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:37 pm
Diaby isn’t going to find much $$$ elsewhere. He’s gotten worse every year since his rookie season.
It took a few years but Bowles seems to have done a fine job turning Diaby from a promising edge rusher into a meh safety. He now has more picks than sacks this year. Well done!
October 19th, 2026 at 12:37 pm
Don’t worry, Todd will ensure his productivity goes down by next season
October 19th, 2026 at 12:37 pm
Mayfield has urged Tood B to keep Walker’s play limited. It’s once again Mayfield’s fault. Also, hard to swallow that Baker deliberately confused top flight UDFA Jalon Daniels in his quest to being joefucsfan posters NFL MVP. Hopefully the brilliance of OneillBuc and MelvinJr. will settle the issue and demonstrate that Jalon is MVP material.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:40 pm
Lost another game when taking a lead into the 4th quarter. Very frustrating.
Can we request proof of life for #94 or at least give the jersey to the guy holding the water bottle. He’s more likely to make a play.
And Bench goldilocks Anzalone, he’s yet to cover a single tight end this year. He can tackle as long as the player runs into him.
Very frustrating, to think i renewed my Club seats for this crap. If Bowles isn’t gone by year’s end, I’ll be for sure.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:48 pm
Well at least Todd had built a great culture.
He can’t manage a clock, identify and play his best pass rusher, motivate, coach offense, understand momentum, coach his corners to press or close out a game.
But the culture is great.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:48 pm
Sure glad Bain finally got to use his “after sack” pose that he’s been practicing since April
October 19th, 2026 at 12:51 pm
bowles obviously doesn’t like walker too much…
remember how dean was like his son while he was here…?
well walker is his red headed stepchild…
(and the redheaded-ness is more of an orange glaze color…think the throwback uni’s color)
bowles is a hater, and hater’s gonna hate…
—
while dean is in town, bowles be like: “jamel come have dinner with the family, the wifey is making pot roast and wangs”
meanwhile walker is standing next to them while the interaction takes place…and walker says: “yumm coach can i come too…?”
coach says: “sorry son, you can’t sit with us”
October 19th, 2026 at 12:55 pm
Adam, you need to share some of your stash with the rest of us. You come up with some weird, outlandish stuff. But like a stopped clock, occasionally you make a great comment, haha. Keep on trucking man.
October 19th, 2026 at 12:56 pm
I have said this before but there is something wrong with Bowles approach to defense. He is the only guy in coaching that I have ever heard say basically that sacks don’t matter. Walker should be getting the majority of the minutes at outside linebacker. He definitely needs to be starting but Bowles being Bowles can’t see it. That is a huge freaking problem and the Glazers have to know it too.
October 19th, 2026 at 1:06 pm
Coaching malpractice. This is why he’ll be a defensive coordinator next year lol
October 19th, 2026 at 1:06 pm
Yeah man, seriously. It’s one thing to imagine what the Bucs record might look like if they are successful with one or two plays in each loss. It’s quite another to imagine full blown conversations Todd Bowles is having with Jamel Dean and David Walker about “wangs”.
October 19th, 2026 at 1:15 pm
guys:
how else am i supposed to deal with this season…?
should i go to a rodger’s recommended ayahuasca retreat lol
🙂
October 19th, 2026 at 1:27 pm
Bauer Sharp made a pretty nice 20-yard catch during one of the four snaps he was on the field. Otton played on every snap, I think, and Durham got in on 24 plays. Gainwell had at least one nice run against his former team, but only got 11 snaps, to Irving’s 63. Vita Vea got 66 snaps, Elijah Roberts 7.
Maybe they could hold a lead if they rotated players a little more effectively.
October 19th, 2026 at 1:30 pm
LOSE & GROW
I dig it. The Bucs’ season was over before it began. They need to lose for better draft picks and they need to develop their young players. Put Walker out there enough to grow but not enough to win.
October 19th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
Walker is basically a 26 year old rookie coming off an ACL. His snap count has been increasing. Maybe it’s all the work load he can handle being he’s never been through a 17 game NFL season?
October 19th, 2026 at 1:41 pm
Are the Glazers watching this madness?Get with the program,fire Bowles now!
October 19th, 2026 at 1:45 pm
It is over-start moving the high priced overpaid players (Winfield) and stock the cupboard for the new HC and GM.
October 19th, 2026 at 1:46 pm
Easy now Joe. We have 11 games to go. We don’t need him to average 2 sacks a game now. Do we??????
His coverage needs improvement. Slowdown young fellow!
October 19th, 2026 at 1:50 pm
This alone should get Bowles fired. 11 games left and then the nightmare ends.
October 19th, 2026 at 1:54 pm
If youbare waiting to make sense of Bowles “logic”.. get comfortable, you’re gonna be a while!
October 19th, 2026 at 1:59 pm
I still think it is Cignetti next year, then bring in McDermott for DC for NFL experience. The QB coach is promoted to (pseudo-OC).
October 19th, 2026 at 2:04 pm
You know, I think there’s an angle of this Walker situation most fans are missing. We think “he seems to be doing well, he could make the team better if he played more.” That’s true and makes sense from a fan perspective, wanting team based results. But what I think is even more important is what his lack of snaps shows: guys who put in the work and show results are NOT rewarded on this team. Do you know how demoralizing that is? Walker is a guy with feelings, and how do you think he’s feeling right now? They don’t just show up and play on Sundays, they commit their lives & bodies to this sport. The nfl is supposed to be a merit/results based job. As a hypothetical, maybe you don’t bench the “franchise” QB you stupidly gave a huge contract to for an undrafted rookie (although the Patriots basically did), but generally the best player is supposed to play. And there’s NOBODY in front of Walker that deserves a pass if they’re playing worse than him. One Joe pounds the table that bowles takes accountability, but he doesn’t. He TALKS about accountability. He says the word. But accountability is a reACTION to a previous action. And far too many players on this team are not held accountable. Whether that’s benching guys who are underperforming or promoting guys that are over performing in their spot. I guess it makes sense though, considering the worst coach in the league isn’t being held to account either…
October 19th, 2026 at 2:18 pm
Bowles stubbornness is personified in keeping Walker on the bench. There’s zero excuse to not play him until he’s too tired to go. Bowles is no guru, he’s become predictable and makes too few adjustments. His defense is something only MIT graduates could master but it seems good in his head. I’m sorry Bowles deserved to be fired the day after that gut wrenching loss to the Rams after Brady and the offense came back from something like 31-3. It would have been the greatest Bucs comeback of all time and Bowles threw up all over his playbook while “not communicating correctly???” a blitz on the best quarterback in the nfl against the blitz (Stafford) in the games final seconds. Glazers need to do the right thing and end the fans misery and let him go at the bye.
October 19th, 2026 at 2:19 pm
David Walker playing every snap will change the game plan and play calling on offense????
October 19th, 2026 at 2:36 pm
Sure he gets pressures and sacks, but he’s not quite where he needs to be on pass coverage yet.
October 19th, 2026 at 2:40 pm
Fire Bowles!
October 19th, 2026 at 2:54 pm
Extend Bowles today.
October 19th, 2026 at 3:03 pm
When radio career loser his the HC this is what you get. Dumb A$$& football
October 19th, 2026 at 3:37 pm
He’s saving him for the playoffs!
October 19th, 2026 at 3:43 pm
Wasn’t Barber just talking about how brilliant Bowels was just 2 weeks ago? How he’ll right the ship? I tell you, every time bowels figures something out, he stops doing it. Yesterday was just the latest example. Like Phil Collins said, “I don’t care anymore. No mo. No mo”.
October 19th, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Todd Bowles wants his OLBs to drop back into pass coverage @ 30-40% of the time…
Perhaps Walker isn’t very sound with this specific endeavor.
Or perhaps there is pressure from above to also get Rubin Bain more snaps.
Did anyone even notice Bain finally had a sack on Sunday?
Anyone?
October 19th, 2026 at 3:46 pm
Yep. Todd wants to lose.
October 19th, 2026 at 3:46 pm
During the bye week it needs to be a bye-bye week and Todd Blows needs to be fired and Ronde Barber needs to be installed as interim Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator to finish out the season. I don’t care what the owners have done in the past, if they want more Bucs fans in the stadium seats, they will have to do something.