The Vikings Need All Eyes On Deone Walker At The Senior Bowl
Credit: Brett Patzke-Imagn Images
We are less than one week away from the start of Senior Bowl practices at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. There will be no shortage of intriguing prospects who fit positions of need for the Minnesota Vikings, a team that enters the offseason with defensive tackle being one of their biggest question marks. Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery are unrestricted free agents, and even with those two, the team lacked a tackle who can generate pressure outside of Jalen Redmond, who just signed a futures deal that’ll keep him in Minnesota for the 2025 season.
Thankfully, the 2025 Draft appears exceptionally deep at the defensive tackle position, and a lot of the biggest names in this year’s class will be there for Minnesota to scout. Walter Nolen, T.J. Sanders, Alfred Collins, Omarr Norman-Lott, Shemar Turner, and Shemar Stewart will be in attendance and are all projected to be selected within the first three rounds. However, the biggest name to keep an eye on for the Vikings is Deone Walker out of Kentucky.
OFFICIAL! DL Deone Walker @deonewalker0 from @UKFootball is heading to the 2025 Reese's Senior Bowl!!! 👏👏👏 #GoCats #BestOfTheBest #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE™️@JimNagy_SB @PaniniAmerica #RatedRookie pic.twitter.com/VLic9lstKa
— Reese's Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) January 8, 2025
Walker is, without question, my favorite defensive tackle prospect in this year’s class. Walker fits the exact archetype Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is known to look for in players. The GM has a tendency to favor younger prospects who are elite athletes, even if they aren’t necessarily finished products. Lewis Cine, J.J. McCarthy, and Dallas Turner were all younger, less experienced, and/or more athletic compared to other players from their respective draft classes. As a matter of fact, you can consider Walker to be the Dallas Turner of defensive tackles.
Deone Walker’s tape is NIGHTMARE FUEL 🤯
Imagine having to block a 6’6, 350lb d-lineman who can play as a standup edge rusher… pic.twitter.com/44BWBzS1r7
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) May 13, 2024
For starters, Walker is the youngest of this draft’s premier players at the position. Most of the top prospects at the position — like Mason Graham, Tyleik Williams, Kenneth Grant, Derrick Harmon, and Nolen — were born in 2003, meaning they’ll be 22-year-old rookies, which is par for the course. Meanwhile, Walker turns 21 years old in March, making him the same age Turner was when he declared for the 2024 Draft. Part of the reason why Kwesi opted against taking Jared Verse last year was because he was 23 years old on draft night.
Well, that, and because Dallas’ ceiling as a prospect was much higher due to his freakish athleticism, even if Turner’s floor was much lower than Verse’s. With so much rhetoric out there saying that Minnesota should’ve taken Verse over Turner, it can be easy to forget that Turner scored a 9.49 Relative Athletic Score (RAS), which ranked 85th out of 1,637 defensive ends since 1987. Walker hasn’t undergone Combine or Pro Day testing yet, but considering he’s 6-foot-6, 345 pounds and moves exceptionally well for someone of his size, we can expect he’ll score high as well.
I still can’t get over how quick Deone Walker moves for his size. Nightmare fuel for opponents pic.twitter.com/ddekO2S79j
— Joe Broback (@joebroback) July 1, 2024
Yet, drafting Walker will come with significantly more risk than most other defensive tackles of the same pedigree. Walker has had problems with conditioning, which leads to seeming fluctuations in effort on the field, which raises question marks. There are games and quarters that he’ll completely take off, and his run defense isn’t where it should be for a player with his kind of measurables and athleticism. Last season, Walker’s PFF run defense grade was 67.7, which ranked 447th out of 904 DTs. Moreover, he had four games last season where his run defense grade was below 60.0.
Perhaps the bigger concern is Walker’s lack of sack production. Walker finished his collegiate career with 10 sacks, but 7.5 of those came in 2023. The lack of consistent sack production, combined with his mediocre run defense makes Walker a tough sell for those who want a safer prospect like Harmon, Nolen, or Sanders. Walker generated 22 pressures in 2024, which wasn’t terribly low by any means, but it’s less than the three aforementioned players.
Measurables and athleticism aside, Walker’s most desirable trait lies in his ability to draw double teams as a defensive end and the positional versatility he provides. A creative and slightly insane defensive coordinator like Brian Flores may find it appealing to move Walker all over the field. One play he could be at 0-tech, and the next he could rush the passer at his natural position at 5-tech, and even drop back into coverage on 3rd-&-Long. Last year at Kentucky, Walker played 142 snaps at nose tackle, more than any blue-chip prospect in this class.
I just discovered Deone Walker from Kentucky. #0 at nose tackle.
This kid is a 6'6 330 LB true Freshman and ate a potential First Round pick (O'Cyrus Torrence) for breakfast in this game. How do you even get to 6'6 330 at 19 years old? pic.twitter.com/jyo3SlI0Dw
— Marcus Whitman (@TFG_Football) January 19, 2023
I believe that Walker will be a good player, but it may take a couple of years for him to reach his full potential. Some Vikings fans are already upset that Turner didn’t get as many sacks as Verse. If Minnesota selects Walker over someone like Harmon or Nolen, those same fans are gonna freak out if one of those guys is more productive to start their career. Nevertheless, Walker is exactly the sort of player Kwesi could fall in love with, for better or for worse.
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