Packers rookie Quay Walker was efficient as a pass-rusher in 2022. Will he get more chances to rush the passer in 2023?
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While we must always be wary of small sample sizes, when Green Bay Packers linebacker Quay Walker was utilized as a pass-rusher last season, he was quite efficient at generating pressure, which could lead to more opportunities in 2023.
There were 75 total snaps last season, according to PFF, where Walker lined up along the defensive front as an edge rusher. This included him playing 17 snaps there in Week 11 against Tennessee and 15 snaps in Week 16 against Miami.
As a pass rusher, Walker recorded a win-rate of 12.9%, which for some context, over an entire season, would have ranked 21st among all eligible edge rushers. His pass rush productivity — an efficiency metric from PFF — of 11.9 would have ranked first if he had a large enough sample size. In total, Walker was able to generate 12 pressures in 2022.
The Packers’ first-round pick produced a pressure on the quarterback in eight of his 17 games as a rookie.
Walker has an elite athletic profile that includes a 4.52-second 40 time, 6.89-second three-cone, and a broad jump of 10-2. His overall Relative Athletic Score (RAS) during the pre-draft process was 9.2 out of 10. Although to a far greater extent, we’ve seen the Dallas Cowboys deploy the uber-athletic linebacker Micah Parsons in a similar role as a pass rusher. Parsons had over 800 snaps in 2022 as an edge rusher and totaled a whopping 106 pressures.
While we won’t see Walker used as a pass-rusher anywhere near the frequency that Parsons is, with the athleticism that he possesses comes versatility, along with flexibility for the coaching staff. However, although valuable, the priorities for the Packers’ defense with Walker are finding where he fits into the 2023 version of this unit and making sure he can handle his linebacker responsibilities first and foremost.
“It’d be easy to say, ‘Hey, let’s use all of them (Walker’s skill sets) at once,” said linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti prior to OTAs. “But you also want him to be good at what he’s good at and just add things to that to supplement what we need. It’s kind of a moving target until you figure out exactly what you are. I think I have a sense of who we are, but you always want to see it on the grass a bit more.”
With Rashan Gary hopefully back on the field sooner than later, JJ Enagbare entering his second season, Justin Hollins having a full offseason in Joe Barry’s defense, and the addition of Lukas Van Ness, the depth at edge rusher should be greatly improved from where it was during the second half of last season. This, in turn, may require fewer pass-rush opportunities from Walker. There is also the trickle-down effect that if Walker is lined up at edge rusher, that requires either Isaiah McDuffie or one of the safeties to line up at linebacker next to De’Vondre Campbell, depending on what formation the defense is in. These could be two elements that Olivadotti was referring to when he said the defense needs to find out who they are first before deciding what additional responsibilities they want Walker to take on.
With that said, the edge rusher position is heavily rotated, with four or five players seeing regular playing time each week. Consistent pressure is also a must if a defense is going to be successful. Last season, the Packers ranked 22nd as a defense in total pressures created. So, given how efficient Walker was as a pass rusher, I imagine that there is an opportunity somewhere to carve out a specific role for him that would allow him to rush the quarterback while also throwing a different defensive alignment at the offense, which there can be value in as well.
When pass rush coordinator Jason Rebrovich was asked earlier this offseason how Walker fit into the Packers’ pass rush game in 2023, he simply replied, “Yes. I’ll leave it at that.”
