Tag: Anthony Walker Jr.

Anthony Walker Jr. continues to show leadership for Browns

Walker once again showed why teammates have raved about his leadership with his initiative to welcome Deshaun Watson with his preferred jersey number:

The addition of LB Anthony Walker Jr. last year was seen as an important one for the culture and identity of the defense. While it was surprising that the team invested almost $5 million for one year of Walker, the gamble paid off leading to the team bringing him back for another season at a slightly lower price.

Last year, despite missing four games, Walker tallied 113 tackles, a sack and a pass deflection. While Walker’s boxscore lacks splash plays, his consistency at the position was valuable as the team transitioned Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to the pro level.

Darius Leonard heaped praises on his former teammate when Cleveland signed Walker. Leonard focused on his leadership and character as a huge part of his value. Greg Newsome II did the same.

Last year, the new Browns linebacker chose to take the #4 jersey which once belonged to team legend Phil Dawson. Earlier this offseason, we noted that it looked like Walker was set to change again to make room for Deshaun Watson to wear #4. Walker shared how that happened and why:

Deciding to reach out to the team’s new offensive leader instead of waiting for him to do so, especially given how much Walker values the number, shows great maturity. While Watson may have given Walker a financial incentive to do so, Walker’s initiation likely helps bond the two team leaders.

Walker’s addition paid off on the field last year and continues to pay dividends off of it. Great leadership finds a way.

Colts free agent LB Anthony Walker visiting Browns

Walker Jr. may have a suitor in Cleveland.

Indianapolis Colts free agent linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. is visiting the Cleveland Browns on Thursday, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Walker Jr. has been working as the MIKE linebacker for the Colts since he was drafted in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL draft but with Bobby Okereke set to take over that role, Walker Jr. hits the market.

Over the last three seasons, Walker Jr. has started 46 of a possible 48 games for the Colts. He would eventually give way to Okereke during the 2020 season as the latter continued to prove to be a better fit for the Colts defense.

An extremely intelligent player and strong asset against the run, Walker Jr. can command a defense easily while being a leader off the field. However, his limitations in coverage could give teams pause in giving him a big contract.

It is unlikely the Colts will match his price to bring him back to Indy, which makes the Browns a potential suitor for the 25-year-old.

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6 pending free agents the Colts should let walk

Indy should let these players walk in free agency.

While the playoffs are going on, the Indianapolis Colts will be hard at work figuring out their plan for the offseason. This includes which players to re-sign before free agency and which players to let walk.

The Colts currently have 20 players set to hit free agency as either unrestricted free agents (UFA) or restricted free agents (RFA) so there are a lot of decisions to make. Even if the Colts want to retain everyone, they won’t be able to.

After taking a look at which players the Colts should re-sign, let’s see which pending free agents Indy should let walk this offseason.

Stock up, stock down from Colts’ 28-24 loss to Steelers

Stock report from Week 16.

Despite being given the chance to control their own playoff destiny, the Indianapolis Colts (10-5) couldn’t hang on to a 17-point lead in the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers (12-3) in Week 16.

Now, the Colts have to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars AND get some help from just one other team in the conference in order to make the playoffs. We detailed all the ways the Colts can make the playoffs in Week 17.

Before the final week gets here, let’s take a look at the stock report from the tough road loss against the Steelers:

Tavon Wilson quickly taking leadership role with Colts

Anthony Walker sees Wilson as a leader already.

Following the news that a pair of defensive backs would be opting out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns, the Indianapolis Colts went out in free agency to sign veteran safety Tavon Wilson.

After spending the majority of his career with the Patriots and Lions, the 30-year-old Wilson now joins the Colts as a depth piece in the safety room. While he’s still getting acclimated, it hasn’t taken long for him to take on a leadership role.

Linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. sees similar traits when looking back at another veteran safety who joined the team during the 2018 season.

“He reminds me a lot of Mike Mitchell – a savvy veteran, a guy who understands the game to the smallest detail. Definitely happy to have him in our locker room right now. A lot of the young guys are learning from him, but he’s a playmaker as well,” Walker told reporters Wednesday. “He can go out there and a guy that – he almost had 100 tackles last year, which we told him he won’t be reaching this year (laughing). Just to have a guy like that on our team now is very exciting.”

After safety Rolan Milligan opted out of the season, the Colts had to make a move. Third-round pick Julian Blackmon is still on the Non-Football Injury list as he recovers from a torn ACL in December. He might not make an impact until October at the earliest.

This led the Colts to bring in Wilson, who comes with a solid pedigree of production both on defense and on special teams. Being a depth player, Wilson as an asset on special teams will be huge.

It will be interesting to see what the Colts decide to do with Wilson once Blackmon is ready to return. They haven’t kept five safeties on the active roster since Chris Ballard took over in 2017. With an enlarged practice squad, the Colts have more options but it still warrants a decision.

The Colts need more leadership in the secondary with a young unit. They added Xavier Rhodes, but Wilson could find himself taking on a leadership role more often as the season approaches.

4 Colts whose Madden rating should be higher

Which Colts got disrespected by Madden?

You know it’s almost time for the yearly Madden football game to being released when the player ratings get released by EA Sports in July. The very popular Madden NFL game is set to release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 25th, and to help promote their game pre-release, EA Sports has released their official player ratings.

Rating over 3,000 players on various skills such as speed, agility, throw power, and acceleration takes a lot of time and effort. For the most part, the rating team at Madden gets the ratings correct, but sometimes there are a few head-scratchers, whether the player’s ratings were too low or too high.

Here’s a look at all of the ratings for the Colts..There were some Colts players slighted by the Madden rating adjusters, so we took the liberty of sharing four players who deserved a higher rating:

LB Darius Leonard | 85 overall

Just add more motivation to Darius Leonard’s list, as he was rated an 85 overall in this year’s Madden.

121 tackles, five sacks, and five interceptions in 13 games, along with a Pro Bowl nod only gets Leonard an 85 rating, behind a player like Kyle Van Noy of the Miami Dolphins.

Van Noy last year with the Patriots, in 15 games, had 56 tackles, six and a half sacks, and no interceptions. Yet, Van Noy is rated an 86 and Leonard an 85.

After a season like that from Leonard, in only 13 games, he should be a higher rating than 85. He should be closer to a 90 overall rating than his official launch rating at 85.

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4 Colts with the most to lose at training camp

These Colts need a strong showing at training camp.

The Indianapolis Colts are expecting to begin training camp on July 28 and while we don’t know what’s in store after that, there are still topics to discuss in the coming weeks.

As it is with every training camp, the Colts will have a number of position battles to watch. Some are more important than others, but there are always players with more to lose than their teammates on the roster.

That could come in the form of simply losing a starting role or it could result in them losing a roster spot altogether.

With training camp less than two weeks away, here are four Colts with the most to lose:

RB Marlon Mack

This is an instance where Mack will most certainly be on the roster regardless of what happens during training camp. However, we have to keep in mind the battle that will be going on for the RB1 role in the backfield.

I’ve long maintained the position that Mack and rookie Jonathan Taylor will split early-down work to begin the season. Mack is too talented and explosive to keep off the field. That said, he’s also going up against the type of competition that puts his future with the organization in doubt.

So while I keep the optimistic approach that Mack will keep a fair role in the backfield, we must also realize just how much the Colts like Taylor. It isn’t likely that the rookie takes a three-down role right away. That’s not in the plans.

But it would be naive to say that Mack will automatically retain a lion’s share of the work simply because he has been the starter. He has a lot on the line when training camp begins.

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Colts expecting a big jump for LB Bobby Okereke

LBs coach expects big things from Okereke.

Under the current regime, the Indianapolis Colts have found themselves with an embarrassment of riches at the linebacker position. Among them is second-year backer Bobby Okereke.

A third-round pick from the 2019 draft class, Okereke emerged as a strong producer for the Colts during the second half of his rookie campaign. He played on 41.3% of snaps over the final 10 games as the third linebacker in the room, which is a strong number considering how often the Colts implement their nickel packages.

As Okereke comes into his own in Year 2, linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi echoes the notion that the Colts are expecting a big up for the Stanford product.

“Yeah, we expect big things from Bobby. He came in as a rookie and did a really nice job. Like Darius, Bobby is a guy that has great physical attributes, but also more importantly, he works really hard at it,” Borgonzi told Colts.com. “So we expect Bobby to make a big jump from Year 1 to Year 2, just in his production, his plays on the ball, interceptions, game-changing plays. Bobby has a lot of ability and we expect him to really have a great season this coming year.”

Standing in the way of Okereke taking a starting role at the MIKE linebacker position is Anthony Walker, who has been the starter since 2018. While Walker may be limited in some areas, he’s been a fantastic leader in the middle of the defense and a strong complement to Darius Leonard.

Considering the Colts only had to use a fifth-round pick in 2017 to get him, Walker has quickly become a favorite amongst the fans and the coaching staff.

But that competition between Walker and Okereke is likely the biggest the Colts have on the docket—if and when they return for training camp at the end of the month. Both players are versatile in that they can likely thrive at the MIKE and SAM positions, thought the latter isn’t used as much in today’s NFL.

“Anthony is a great teammate. The first thing (is) he’s an unbelievable leader. He’s a leader of the defense,” said Borgonzi. “He’s very smart. He’s a guy that can play multiple positions for us. He can play MIKE, he can play WILL, he can play SAM, so his versatility is unmatched. Everybody in the locker room respects him just because of how hard he works, both on and off the field. So he’s really a true leader of our defense.”

The linebacker corps is one of the deepest positions on the roster, and the Colts are excited to see what the competition will bring out in both Okereke and Walker.

For the former, it could mean taking a starting role in Year 2 next to one of the best linebackers in the game.

ESPN names 4 Colts as candidates for contract extensions

Which Colts might get an extension?

With the summer here and the NFL dying down in terms of news and activity, one development to keep an eye on this time of year will be contract extensions before the 2020 season arrives.

The Colts have a few players eligible for contract extensions given that their current deals expire at the end of the 2020 season. General manager Chris Ballard made it pretty clear last offseason that he doesn’t mind getting deals done before the current one expires.

ESPN listed over 50 players who could be considered candidates for a contract extension before the 2020 season arrives. The Colts have four players mentioned in the article.

Here are the Colts players listed in the article along with what ESPN said about them:

WR T.Y. Hilton: “The Bears’ Allen Robinson II and the Colts’ T.Y. Hilton are both veterans who are important enough to their teams to merit consideration.”

C Ryan Kelly: “Other guards/centers who could be candidates include Minnesota’s Pat Elflein, the Colts’ Ryan Kelly and maybe the Cowboys’ Joe Looney if he emerges as their starting center in camp.”

LB Anthony Walker Jr: “Anthony Walker Jr. is another 2017 fifth-rounder who has turned into a reliable starter. Walker is a part of the Colts’ plans moving forward and a candidate for a summer extension.”

S Malik Hooker: “The Colts declined Malik Hooker’s fifth-year option for 2021, but it wouldn’t be too shocking if they worked something out with him at a lower number.”

The article also mentioned Marlon Mack with the running backs but only that there are “No talks yet between the Colts and Marlon Mack as he heads into his final year,” which appears to be true at this stage.

It will be interesting to see how the Colts go about their extensions this offseason but one or all of these players could be up for a new deal, along with some other names such as Darius Leonard, Quenton Nelson and Grover Stewart.

Can the Colts become an elite defense?

Anthony Walker has high hopes for his unit.

The Indianapolis Colts spent much of their time this offseason trying to improve the depth and talent on both sides of the ball, but the especially achieved that goal when it comes to the defense.

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With new additions like defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and cornerback Xavier Rhodes, just how much better will the defense be? Of course we won’t know for sure at this point in the offseason, but linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. believes the Colts should be in the conversation among elite units.

“Yeah, I think we added pieces that took us from what we feel had a chance to be a good/great defense to an elite defense,” Walker said this offseason. “So, you add Xavier Rhodes, you add DeForest Buckner, Sheldon Day. You already had some guys at pretty elite positions – Darius Leonard, Bobby Okereke, Justin Houston, Kenny Moore II, you already had those guys (and) Malik Hooker.”

The addition of Buckner is what will garner the most attention and rightfully so. If he can have the type of impact expected of him, the entire defense will benefit. Whether he’s applying pressure himself, opening up the lanes for linebackers and edge rushers, or making life easier on the secondary. Buckner’s presence will provide the Colts with a great deal of production.

The other additions have to prove themselves a little more. Rhodes is coming off of a down year in 2019 and has been on a decline statistically since his All-Pro campaign in 2017. He fits well within the scheme but how much of a bounce-back season can he have?

It all looks great on paper, but Walker admits they have to go out there and prove it before any assumptions can be made.

“On paper it looks great, like a beautiful drawing right now,” Walker said. “We’ll piece it all together like a puzzle and hopefully we’ll get to clicking as soon as we get into the facility working out together and everything like that and Week 1 we can go ahead and put it on display.”

The Colts defense will almost exclusively feature veterans at starting positions. It doesn’t appear there will be a whole lot of room for rookies to grab a starting role, but that’s what the Colts envisioned when they rebuilt the roster in 2017.

With an aging veteran at quarterback and a stout run game, the Colts can maximize their efforts with a strong defense. There is a lot of upside with the unit, but they must go out and prove it before getting handed the elite title.

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