NFL Draft Player Profile: Travon Walker
by Lyndon Suvanto
No questions needed. Travon Walker is one of the best prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Standing 6-foot-5 inches and weighing in at 272-pounds, Walker is a man amongst boys.
It’s not only his size that has NFL scouts excited, but it’s what he is able to do with his frame which has executives league-wide salivating.
Freak of an athlete
He had the internet buzzing after his performance at the NFL Rookie Combine, running a sublime 4.51 time in the 40-yard dash.
That ranked him third among all edge players in this draft class. But it was not only the dash that helped raise his draft capital. His near perfect RAS score (Relative Athletic Score) of 9.99 sits him third out of 1,428 pass rushers since 1987.
Heading into the NFL Draft, industry analysts have the race for first overall pick coming down to Travon Walker and Aidan Hutchinson.
Luckily for Detroit, who have the second overall pick, they don’t have to make the tough decision. It’s one or the other going first overall.
What separates Walker from the rest of the class is his versatility. While playing for the Georgia Bulldogs, Walker flashed his elite skills as a pass rusher, run stopper, and even a cover defender. This is what makes Walker so intriguing for either the Jacksonville Jaguars (first overall pick) or the Lions (second overall).
Could he really go first overall?
Though, like all players coming out of college, Walker does have parts of his game that he will still need to fine tune.
His sack total in college finished at just 9.5. Some of those numbers may be skewed by his usage by Georgia, but his pressure rate of 8% has him sitting at the bottom among pass rushers in this class.
Regardless of the stats, or lack thereof, Walker has been on a late offseason surge on draft boards.
Several gambling websites have shifted their lines, moving Walker ahead of Hutchinson as the betting favorite for being selected first overall.
On April 28 2022, all eyes will be on Jacksonville GM Trent Baalke. He will have the difficult decision of determining which pass rusher will help his rebuilding team take a step forward towards contention.
Will he go first overall? At this point no one knows, but Walker has put himself in a great position for that to become a reality.
Prediction: 2nd Overall to Detroit
Player Comp: A more athletic Tre Flowers
