David Walker is back in the mix for Tampa Bay, and the Buccaneers pass rusher sounds like a player eager to make up for lost time.
Walker, a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, arrived in Tampa Bay with a reputation built on production and explosiveness. He piled up 39 sacks in four college seasons, including his final two years at Central Arkansas, and his 6-foot-1, 258-pound frame comes with the kind of athleticism and pass-rush variety that can make offensive tackles miserable.
But his rookie year never really got rolling. A season-ending knee injury on the third day of training camp shut him down before he could show what he could do.
Now, after a year of rehab and a long stretch of learning Todd Bowles’ defense from the classroom and the film room, Walker is back for his second camp in Tampa Bay with a different kind of confidence. He said he feels better than he did when he first arrived last year and believes the recovery process has him in a good place mentally, too.
“I feel better. I just thank God for giving me another opportunity to play the game that I love.
I feel better than I was when I first got here last year, so that’s good upside. I feel like that’s good for my mental going into this year just because of the injury.
But man, I feel ready.”
Walker’s return comes at a time when the Buccaneers’ defense is dealing with plenty of turnover. Haason Reddick, Logan Hall and Jamel Dean are gone via free agency, and Lavonte David has retired. That kind of change has opened the door for new faces, and Walker sees it as an opportunity for the group to grow together.
“Change is better. I feel like change [better].
The guys that did leave, they cemented themselves here, and we’re going to miss [Lavonte]. We’re going to miss Mike [Evans].
We’re going to miss all those guys, but I feel like Todd [Bowles] and them, they brought in some really good dudes to back those guys up. So I feel like, man, we’re hungry.
We’re coming with a with a different tenacity. Like you said, we’re so deep right now.
So man, it’s going to be fun. it’s going to be a fun training camp.”
Among the newcomers Walker singled out were linebacker Alex Anzalone and defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson. He pointed to Robinson’s physical style and Anzalone’s speed and vocal presence as traits that can spread through the defense.
“A’Shawn, man, I like his grit. He’s a vet, like you said.
He’s a veteran. He knows how to play the game.
He knows to play it with physicality, and I feel like that’s just going to trickle out throughout the whole D-line. And then Anzalone, he’s fast.
He’s fast, he’s vocal and he’s always getting to the ball. I feel like that those habits are just going to make us even better because we’re going to look at those guys say like, ‘They’re 10 years in, and man, we want to be in that same position when we get there, too.”
Walker also addressed his knee brace, saying he plans to keep wearing it for now and will see how it feels during camp.
“As far as right now, we’re going to wear it and see how it feels. I feel good in it, so we’re going to go with that right now.”
There’s also a natural comparison brewing on the edge with Rueben Bain Jr., another low-center-of-gravity rusher who can bend and dip around the corner. Walker said he and Bain have already talked about the resemblance, and he framed it in pretty lofty terms.
“Yeah man, he and I were talking this about a couple weeks ago, and we’re like, ‘Man, we’re Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis 2.0’ because we’re similar to those guys and we look up to those guys. So man, we’re excited about what they’re going to do with the group that we have this year.”
Walker is expected to compete for snaps as a situational pass rusher behind starters Yaya Diaby and Rueben Bain Jr., and after losing his rookie season before it could begin, he sounds ready to finally get to work.
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