Tag: Deone Walker

Chiefs scouting report: Kentucky Wildcats DL Deone Walker

Kentucky Wildcats defensive lineman Deone Walker could become a target for the Kansas City #Chiefs in the 2025 NFL draft.

The Kansas City Chiefs lose interior defensive linemen Derrick Nnadi, Mike Pennel, and Tershawn Wharton to free agency after the 2024 season. That places a lot of stress on the team to add interior help through the 2025 NFL draft.

According to Senior Bowl Director Jim Nagy, Kentucky Wildcats defensive tackle Deone Walker entered the season at 6’7.5″, 353 lbs with 34.5-inch arms and hands over 10.5 inches.

He’s a one-of-one prospect in this class. Michigan’s Kenneth Grant is the only other player who comes close to his size and mass along the defensive line.

Despite his size, Walker is an extremely versatile player. He lines up everywhere from nose tackle to 5-tech. He gets off the line quickly and uses his powerful upper body to displace offensive linemen. Walker’s twitchy hands attack the blocker’s hands and arms to prevent linemen from gaining access to his frame.

Walker’s pass rush plan includes bull rushes, clubs, club-swims, pull-swims and rip-spins. He stacks moves and uses counters to keep his rush alive. When all else fails, Walker latches onto the offensive lineman and pulls him off balance to create an opening.

Walker’s raw power helps him shed blocks and close lanes in the run game. However, his large frame and high pad level consistently cause him to lose the leverage battle. This makes it easier for offensive linemen to access his trunk and displace or knock him off balance.

Walker’s lower half is much thinner than his upper body. Combined with his pad level, this makes him unreliable at the point of attack despite his incredible size and strength. Walker doesn’t two-gap, which is alarming for a player with his physical profile. He needs to shift some weight on his frame and improve his late-game conditioning.

After a disappointing 2024 campaign, analysts believe Walker’s ceiling is the late first round, but he could sink as far as the late second round. Walker is only a junior, so he could return to school in 2025.

The Wildcats finish their season with a brutal stretch. They go to Austin to face the Texas Longhorns this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CST before playing against Louisville at home on Nov. 30.

Kentucky’s Deone Walker still a first round pick in two NFL mock drafts

Kentucky’s Deone Walker is a projected first round draft pick in two new NFL mock drafts.

Kentucky football is not having the season they wanted or expected. After their loss to their loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in week ten, they’re 3 – 6 on the year, and have lost four straight.

They do, however, have some players who have performed well, and guys who are legitimate NFL Draft prospects. One of those is massive defensive lineman Deone Walker, who is projected to be an early pick by most analysts.

Related: Kentucky must win three straight to make a bowl game

Walker had a coming out party in 2023, displaying quickness and pass rush ability that don’t normally come with a guy that’s 345 lbs. He’s not having the same statistical season this year, but he’s still a potential first round pick, and two recent mock drafts, still have him there.

CBS Sports

CBS draft anaylist Chris Trapasso projects Walker to be selected 28th overall by the Minnesota Vikings. Here’s what he said about the pick:

The Vikings add an enormous and athletic defensive tackle to make life easier for their outside rushers in Brian Flores’ blitz-obsessed scheme.

Bleacher Report

The Bleacher Report scouting team also put together a new mock draft and are a little higher on Walker. They have him being selected 23rd overall by the Green Bay Packers.

The Green Bay Packers might be the ideal landing spot for Walker. Kenny Clark, who turns 30 next season, could serve as a mentor for him. Meanwhile, T.J. Slaton is a free agent after this season. Walker could be worked into the rotation as he learns to be a professional.

ESPN ranks Deone Walker among the top 25 players at midseason

Kentucky football star Deone Walker is ranked as the 21st best player in ESPN’s midseason rankings.

Through six games, Kentucky football has consistently showed off a defense capable of slowing down even the top offenses of the SEC. They held the Georgia Bulldogs to 13 points, and Ole Miss to 17 as examples. Defensive lineman Deone Walker has been a key part of that.

On Wednesday, ESPN released its list of the top 25 players in college football at the mid-way point of the year. Walker is on the list, coming in at number 21.

Related: Kentucky bowl projections after Vanderbilt loss

Here’s what they had to say about the big Wildcats defender:

The most mundane part of the box score is the most revealing when looking for signs of Walker’s dominance. He’s certainly got his disruptive side — he made 17.5 tackles at or behind the line in 2023, and he has nine career sacks, too. That’s pretty good for a guy whose main job, at 6-foot-6 and 345 pounds, is to occupy blockers and eat space in the middle of the line. But you know what’s just about unheard of for a guy that size? Through the first five games, Walker was also second on the team in tackles. He made a tackle on 12.1% of his snaps. That’s a linebacker’s average! In fact, UK linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson was at only 10.0% in the same period. Walker is a 345-pounder making plays from sideline to sideline. That’s not normal.

Walker is considered by many analysts to be a future first round draft pick, and potential impact player at the next level. His combination of size and burst can’t be taught, and has certainly got him plenty of attention.

The rest of the season still has to play out, but so far, Walker is doing pretty well, and according to ESPN, is one of the nation’s best players.

Where Kentucky’s Deone Walker went in the new PFF mock draft

Kentucky defensive lineman Deone Walker is a first round pick in the new PFF NFL mock draft.

Kentucky football has displayed one of the country’s best defenses this season, and is fresh off a win over the Ole Miss Rebels. In the win, the Wildcats held Ole Miss to their lowest output of the season in nearly every offensive category.

Defensive lineman Deone Walker has been one of the leaders of the defense for a few years now, and has played his way into being a likely early NFL draft pick in 2025.

Related: Kentucky receives votes in new US LBM Coaches Poll

Pro Football Focus has released a new version of their 2025 NFL mock draft, and Walker is a first round selection. They have him going 16th overall to the Green Bay Packers. Here’s what Trevor Sikkema had to say about the selection:

Walker hasn’t been the dominant force many expected in his junior season, posting a 72.3 overall grade. However, that’s still a solid mark, and his rare 6-foot-6, 345-pound frame gives him a higher ceiling than we’ve seen so far. The Packers’ defense looks different under coordinator Jeff Hafley, but Walker is an ideal fit for the type of interior defensive lineman they’ve favored in the past.

Walker is gigantic, but moves like a smaller player. He rushes the passer well for a guy his size. There’s plenty of season left, and Big Blue Nation will see if he can push his stock even higher.

The Kentucky Wildcats defense is one of the country’s best

Kentucky football has one of the best defenses in the country.

After the Kentucky Wildcats football team defeated Ole Miss 20 – 17, much was made about the job their defense did in slowing down the Rebels offense.

Ole Miss had scored 40 or more points in each of their first four games, and quarterback Jaxson Dart was averaging nearly 400 yards passing. Enter the Kentucky defense.

Against the Wildcats, Dart had his lowest completion percentage, lowest yardage total, and lowest passer rating and QBR of the year. Subsequently, the Rebels point total was less than half of their previous low.

Related: Kentucky receives votes in new US LBM Coaches Poll

The success of the Kentucky defense starts up front. Deone Walker is a potential first round draft pick, but players like Octavious Oxendine, Tre’Vonn Rybka, and Keeshawn Silver have played very well.

The linebackers, D’Eryck Jackson and Jamon Dumas-Johnson are one of the nation’s best duos. Both have are good tacklers, and play the pass solidly too.

Meanwhile, in the secondary, even without top cornerback Maxwell Hairton, the Wildcats played well on the back end. JQ Hardaway has been good all season. D.J. Waller made some terrific plays as well on Saturday, while Freshman Terhyon Nichols made one of the plays of the game on a deep ball early on.

Kentucky is 3 – 2 on the year, and remains unranked. However, the offense has struggled early on to score points. The defense has been elite, and deserves to be mentioned among the best in the country.

Saints shuffle their offensive line again in this 2025 mock draft

The New Orleans Saints shuffled their offensive line again in this 2025 mock draft. But would you have made the same decision?

So we missed the window for our usual “Mock Draft Monday” feature on a  2025 NFL draft prospect. That’s going to happen when the New Orleans Saints suffer key injuries and lose a very winnable game to end their surprising season-opening win streak. So we’re picking it up with a look at four different options in the upcoming draft class.

We took the draft order from Tankathon’s latest projection, which had the Saints slotted at No. 21, and used the Pro Football Focus mock draft simulator to pick for the 20 teams ahead of us.

This left us with several intriguing prospects. The best players available in PFF’s rankings include Kentucky defensive tackle Deone Walker, Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., LSU right tackle Emery Jones Jr., and Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. Those are some great options to choose from.

Jones is clearly going to be the local choice here — beyond starring at LSU, he’s a legit top-15 talent, and the Saints would be lucky to get him as a tone-setting sure thing at right tackle to replace Trevor Penning. But you could just as easily make the case for the other guys.

Walker could improve a run defense that allowed almost 7 yards per carry to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, and probably offer more interior pass rush than other guys on the roster. Nathan Shepherd and Khalen Saunders are both only signed through 2025.

Banks could also make sense for an offensive line pick. Taliese Fuaga has done a great job adjusting to left tackle, but many analysts predicted he could be a better fit at guard in the NFL. If Banks is a plug-and-play starter at left tackle, Fuaga could move inside or even go back to his college position on  the right side if the Saints find another answer at left guard.

And then you’ve got Egbuka, who was arguably the most-hyped player in this group. At one point he was seen as a potential top-five draft pick. He certainly has the talent but his production took a serious hit last season (after suffering ankle and knee injuries) and he’s still working to reassert himself in the upcoming draft class. We should also consider he’s got a similar build to Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed at a slight 6-foot-1, 205 pounds. How much does he add to the receiving corps?

In the end, we went with Banks. You can find receivers on the second day of the draft. Defensive tackle could be seen as a priority, sure, but realistically they’re going to play half as many snaps per game as one of the offensive linemen available here. And of the two offensive tackles available, Banks is a better prospect. He’s allowed half as many sacks and pressures as Jones on just 23 fewer snaps in pass protection, per PFF charting, while logging 233 more reps as a run blocker and drawing fewer penalty flags. They’ll both be 21-year old rookies (Banks is actually five days younger than Jones).

So who lines up where? We’re guessing Fuaga goes back to right tackle, Banks takes over on the left side, and Penning either tries out at left guard or is shown the door. Drafting Banks is not a perfect solution to their problems but this would be a big step in the right direction.

Still, at the end of the day we’re too far out from the draft to make any serious predictions. Who knows where the Saints will ultimately pick or whether someone like Banks is even going to be available? If nothing else this is a good reminder to watch Banks closely next Saturday  against  Mississippi State, and again on Oct. 12 in the “Red River Rivalry” game with Oklahoma. You can bet the Saints are keeping tabs on him.

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Deone Walker named a first round lock by CBS Sports in a new mock draft

CBS Sports released a new NFL mock draft and Kentucky football star Deone Walker is a high pick.

The latest CBS Sports Mock Draft from Ryan Wilson has Kentucky Wildcats defensive lineman Deone Walker projected to go on the first round of the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.

Walker is an enormous human being with tremendous block-shedding skills and deceptive upfield rush ability for a nose tackle. – Chris Trapasso CBS Sports 

Pro Football Focus recently said of the star Wildcat: “Walker is an alien sent to Earth to terrorize SEC backfields. He’s 6-foot-6 and 348 pounds and revealed in a recent PFF interview that he aims to run in the “high 4.6s” in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine.”

Related: Five things to watch for in Kentucky vs Georgia

Wilson has him as high as No. 11 to the Seattle Seahawks and Chris Trapasso has him going 17th overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Walker has been racking up the preseason awards. He recently made the Lomardi Award Preseason Watch List, he was named the Preseason All-American Team by ESPN and The Athletic, and was ranked as the 21st-best player in college football, also by ESPN.

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CBS Sports lists a Kentucky star as a player to watch for the NFL draft

Kentucky football star Deone Walker listed as a draft prospect to watch by CBS Sports.

The 2024 Kentucky football team is one of the most talented rosters the school has ever had, and Deone Walker is one of their best players. In a preseason where he’s received a lot of attention, he received a little more from CBS Sports.

On Friday, CBS Sports analyst Josh Edwards listed 25 prospects fans should be excited about, and Walker was on that list. Edwards had this to say about the Wildcats defensive lineman:

For those that have not seen Walker play, he may be miscast as a run-stuffing nose tackle, but he creates chaos with his size and movement skills. His versatility has allowed defensive coordinator Brad White to move him around the formation in an effort to create mismatches. The Detroit native was credited with 7.5 sacks last season, and the Wildcats will need him to deliver again this fall.

Walker is considered to be one of the nation’s best players, and he’s on the watch list for several awards, including the Bronko Nagurski award, the Outland Trophy, and the Bednarik award.

The two-time All-SEC honoree could be a first round draft pick next year, if he has another big season. He combination of size and quickness is enticing, and NFL teams will certainly be watching.

Kentucky defensive star is second-team preseason AP All-American

The latest in a long line of preseason accolades for Deone Walker includes second team preseason AP All-America honors.

Kentucky Wildcats defensive tackle Deone Walker was selected to the preseason AP All-America team on Monday.

Walker was a second team selection and the only Wildcats player to make the preseason AP All-America list. Michigan’s Mason Graham and Notre Dame’s Howard Cross III were AP first team selections at defensive tackle while Ohio State’s Tyleik Williams joined Walker as a second team selection.

It’s the latest in a long line of preseason accolades for the 6-foot-6, 348-pound Walker as he heads into his junior season in Lexington. The Detroit native has also been named to the preseason watch lists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Bednarik Award, the Outland Trophy and the Lott IMPACT Trophy.

Additionally, Walker was named a second team preseason All-American by Walter Camp, Phil Steele and Athlon.

RELATED: Where Kentucky football lands in The Athletic’s preseason ranking of all 134 FBS teams

Walker has started 24 consecutive games for the Wildcats and had 55 tackles (28 solo) with 7.5 sacks (eighth in the SEC) a season ago. He also had eight quarterback hurries and two pass breakups last season.

Recently, Walker was ranked the No. 21 overall player in college football entering the 2024 season by ESPN. CBS Sports ranked him the No. 40 overall player on Monday.

Kentucky opens the 2024 season against Southern Miss, Saturday, Aug. 31 at 7:45 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

Four Kentucky players make list of Top 150 college football player rankings for 2024

Deone Walker and Barion Brown were the two highest-ranked Kentucky players on CBS Sports’ list, which also included Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Maxwell Hairston.

CBS Sports unveiled its rankings of the Top 151 college football players heading into the 2024 season Monday.

Four Kentucky players made the list, with defensive lineman Deone Walker the highest-ranked Wildcats player at No. 40 overall. Walker was followed by receiver/return specialist Barion Brown at No. 46.

Linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson (No. 113 overall) and cornerback Maxwell Hairston made the list (No. 124), as well.

Walker enters his junior season having been named to various preseason awards watch lists, including the Bednarik Award, Outland Trophy, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Lott IMPACT Trophy.

College football analyst Blake Brockermeyer said of Walker:

“The All-SEC defensive tackle is a presence in the middle and has tons of game experience, starting 25 of the last 26 for the Wildcats. Walker is surprisingly quick and athletic in condensed spaces and has a knack for finding the football while he’s being double teamed. His road to 7.5 sacks last season was paved by power first, counters and hand-swipes second. Opponents want nothing to do with him, I promise you that. There are some T’Vondre Sweat vibes here.”

In ESPN’s rankings last week, Walker was ranked the No. 21 overall player heading into 2024.

The second highest ranked Wildcat on CBS Sports’ list, Brown finished last season with 40 receptions for 439 yards and three touchdowns. He also returned three kicks for scores.

Brockermeyer had this to say about Brown:

“An explosive playmaker in multiple phases for the Wildcats. Brown doubles as a returner and has the ability to take it to the house any time he touches the ball, scoring three touchdowns on returns last year. Brown’s only knock is he suffered six drops last year and lost two fumbles. Has the ability to be one of the top receivers in the country but needs the ball more.”

Dumas-Johnson transferred to Kentucky from Georgia, where he was part of the Bulldogs’ 2022 national championship team that went 15-0. He played in nine games a season ago before suffering a broken forearm in Georgia’s Nov. 4 win at Missouri. Dumas-Johnson had 34 tackles (29 solo), 3.5 sacks and two passes defended in 2023.

For his part, Hairston had five interceptions last season, good for fifth in the nation and first in the SEC. He had two memorable interceptions returned for touchdown in Kentucky’s 45-28 win at Vanderbilt on Sept. 23, adding a forced fumbled and six passes defended across 13 games. Hairston was the only other ranked Wildcats player on ESPN’s list at No. 84 overall.

Kentucky opens the season in prime time on Aug. 31 at Kroger Field against Southern Miss, Kickoff is set for 7:45 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on SEC Network.