I found this on another forum and it might answer some of your questions about Walker: "Playing in Georgia's defense negatively affected Walker in several ways. First, he was consistently moved around the defense and asked to do more things than nearly any rusher in the class. He played 1T, 5T, edge, LB. He had multigap responsibilities, often times even when playing DE. Rarely was he allowed to just rush the passer. Second, he was part of a heavy rotation. Only 56% of defensive snaps (and that was the highest percentage of the front seven!). When he is drafted, a smart DC will focus his role and allow him to perfect his craft. Georgia's defense was much more about the whole than the individual. It relied on consistently confusing offenses by having freaks lining up all over the place and causing blown assignments by changing the alignment prior to the snap. By rotating heavily so that each player was fresh even late into games. It's why JJ left to go to Florida State. It is incredibly difficult to showcase yourself on that defense, to build the stats necessary for teams to take you seriously as a top rusher prospect."
This is very intriguing to me because I just listened to Chris Simms podcast last night In regards to his top 5 edge prospects In this draft. Simms had TW as his #2 edge and was emphasizing a lot of what the quote you just posted stated as well. Especially the part where GA defense didn't allow for him to rush consistently. That scheme puts a leash on that front. For anyone curious. Simms top 5 are: 1. Hutchison 2. Walker 3. Jermaine Johnson 4. George Karlaftis 5. Nik bonito He doesn't even have Thibs In his top 5. He has him ranked 7th In this draft at the ED. Now I need to go watch more of these guys.
I think I'm coming around on taking Walker at 4. I think his absolute floor is great run defender, and while you don't draft a run defender at 4 he certainly has the upside to be a good pass rusher. Does anyone have snap count data for college players? Walker only had 1 less sack than KT last season. KT played slightly less games but I wonder how the snap counts compare given the Georgia DL rotations.
Walker gives me the Shaun Ellis vibe. He'll start for a decade, and be solid, consistent yet unremarkable. Might make a couple pro-bowls.
Our run defense was awful last year right? I could see that playing into our front office liking Walker too. Bit of a hedge if he doesn't ever become a great pass rusher.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing. He's like hitting a single or a double rather than swinging for the fences. He'll be disappointing as a 4th overall, but still have a very long, successful career. Given that most say that the top of this draft is week, you can't realistically hope for that much more, especially at a premium position.
