Will Jalon Walker succeed in the NFL? Or will be be stuck in between positions? Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts break down the 2025 NFL Draft prospect from Georgia football in their Jalon Walker Scouting Report
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00:00NFL teams must be careful about drafting Jalen Walker.
00:03Here's why.
00:04Ryan, can Jalen Walker's play style work in the NFL?
00:14It can, but you're going to really need, I think, to get him with the right defense
00:18coordinator because for me, Joe, this is a dangerous player in between.
00:23Is he a versatile player that can do a lot of different things or is he a tweener?
00:28What's the question mark that you have to ask yourself in this one?
00:31Well, it's the world that we live in where it's Jack of all trades, but possibly master
00:36of none.
00:37In his athletic testing, we didn't get any, but we would have assumed he would have been
00:40a freakish athlete if he did participate at the combine.
00:44What does stand out to me is the fact that this is supposed to be a guy who's supposed
00:47to be a pass rusher, who's supposed to be someone consistently going after the quarterback
00:51because that's what he did so well this season for Georgia, but he's got 32 inch arms and
00:56he's on the shorter side for a pass rusher.
00:59So we have to figure out Ryan, where do we put this guy?
01:02What do we do?
01:03Because he looks like a great athlete, but I just don't know if he fits the role of either
01:08pass rusher or off ball linebacker.
01:10Yeah.
01:11And I think that you do need to figure out which one he is ultimately, because I think
01:15that I've gone really back and forth with this guy as far as what is he, what is he
01:19on the next level?
01:20Is he a true inside linebacker?
01:22Is he a true edge?
01:23Is he a guy that should be playing on the second level on early downs and obvious password
01:27situations and utilize them as a rusher?
01:29I've actually gone back and forth on this one, Joe, and I actually think that he's an
01:32edge on the next level.
01:34I understand that he does not have the length that you would like to be an every down player,
01:38but in an odd front as a three, four outside linebacker is a guy that can play a little
01:43bit in space at times.
01:44I think that this guy is a player that has upside as a pass rusher in a big way.
01:51The question marks are going to be, one, is he going to get enough reps to be able
01:55to showcase that and to develop the full arsenal as a, as a attack style player?
02:00And two are, is a team just going to be smart and not ask him to do too much?
02:05Because I think that's kind of blurs the lines.
02:07And when we get to our comp on this one, I think that it'll also make a lot more sense
02:10as far as like the utilization of this player and the fundamental things that you're asking
02:14him to do are going to make or break whether he is a very good football player on the NFL
02:18level or eight.
02:19Okay.
02:20One that kind of lacks a home.
02:22If that makes sense.
02:23Right.
02:24When you have a guy who's a really good athlete and has sack production in college, you're
02:27better off having him play mostly as a pass rusher.
02:30We're going to get to the comp of the comp is pretty favorable for him.
02:33We're high on him, but I don't think as high as most, you see people projecting him as
02:37a top 10 pick.
02:39I'm not all the way there.
02:40I think he's a middle to the back end of the first round guy because of that chance that
02:44he doesn't work out because he doesn't have the instincts to play off ball.
02:48And also just generally doesn't have great instincts when he's playing in space where
02:52he does shine is the fact that he's got such quick feet.
02:54He's got such great burst.
02:56He's able to just out athlete blockers on a consistent basis, but we need to see Ryan
03:02a progression in improvement, better hands.
03:06He needs to do a much better job of actually using pass rush moves and not just trying
03:10to, you know, juke pass guys like he's going to the rim.
03:14Well, and I think that that's the, that's the tough part is as far as when you are as
03:18good at athlete as he is.
03:19And George has said, we can utilize you in so many different ways.
03:22You haven't had the time to just really focus on one thing, right?
03:26And developing those moves.
03:27I do think that it's there.
03:29Like I've seen a cross chop at times.
03:32I've seen some inside counters at points, but it is just generally speaking, mostly
03:37been I'm going to beat you with my first step and I'm going to beat you with my explosiveness.
03:41And that is kind of what has carried a player like this to being a, you know, a difference
03:47maker for the Georgia Bulldogs the last two years with a good defensive line coach, a
03:51guy that understands how to string moves together, how to work inside counters, how to set up
03:56opposing offensive tackles.
03:58I think that there's a lot of upside with Jalen Walker.
04:00You can't teach the explosiveness he has.
04:02You can't teach the closing speed he has.
04:04If you add moves to the arsenal and he lands in the right system, I do think that he could
04:08be a plus player in terms of being a pure pass rusher on the NFL level, but there is
04:12some projection that needs to be taken, taken into account.
04:15Take a look at his background as we do on all of these scouting reports.
04:18He was very, very highly regarded and part of me kind of thinks that maybe he was being
04:23projected as a recruit to be an inside linebacker.
04:26He was a five star recruit coming out of Salisbury, North Carolina, third ranked linebacker in
04:32that elite 2022 recruiting class.
04:35This was a kid who coming into Georgia had high expectations, took a little bit to get
04:39going because maybe part of what we're talking about here, Georgia also didn't even really
04:44know how to set him up to succeed at his best.
04:47It's so funny because you, like you said, he's a five star, but he was, he was the fifth
04:51ranked five star in the Georgia class that year, which is pretty wild.
04:57It was literally Malik Malik, according to the two, four, seven sports composite.
05:00It was Malakai Starks.
05:01It was Michael Williams.
05:02We've talked a ton about it.
05:03It was Dalen Everett's the corner.
05:05And then Marvin Jones jr.
05:07Who's now at Oklahoma as an outside pass rusher.
05:10So he was literally the third ranked edge player technically in his class, although
05:14they listed him as a linebacker coming out of high school.
05:17So no shock, Joe, Georgia has another really talented recruits that they hit on in that
05:22class.
05:23And that was one of the more ridiculous as far as top heavy classes that we've seen.
05:26I mean, they're literally that's how five, you're probably gonna have three first.
05:29Well, you're going to have three first round picks barring someone like Mike Malakai Starks
05:33falling out of it.
05:34So you may have had three first round picks in your top five recruits in that recruiting
05:38cycle.
05:39As we said, our pro comp for Jalen Walker is incredibly favorable, but I think that
05:44this one requires like a strong explanation here.
05:48Why I think this is like, this is perfect.
05:50This, this really hits every single box that we're trying to check here and when we're
05:54comparing a player.
05:55So Hassan Redick, the former temple linebacker defensive end, he at the NFL combine, he ran
06:01a four, five, two, 80, 36 and a half inch vertical 11, one broad seven, a one three
06:06cone four, three, seven, 20 yard shuttle and 24 reps on the, on the bench.
06:11So all that athletic testing is exactly like what Jalen Walker probably would have been
06:16in those ranges because he's a powerful kid.
06:18He's got good agility.
06:20He's got good bursts.
06:21He probably would have ran well, six foot one and a half, 32 and three quarter inch
06:25arms.
06:26So not like the greatest length, a little bit on the shorter side.
06:29Walker is on is, is a little bit shorter than Hassan Redick is.
06:33The reason why I think this comp and I love this comp so much as if anyone remembers back
06:37to when Redick came into the NFL and he was with the Arizona Cardinals, they tried to
06:41force him to play off ball linebacker and force him to do it almost full time and it
06:47didn't work.
06:49He was not playing well and everybody was talking about him as a bust.
06:52And then the minute that he started to actually go after the passer and just go be an athlete
06:58and go play the game was when we started to see this growth where he was great with
07:02the Eagles and he has been great in other locations since that time with the Cardinals.
07:07Well, I think Redick was the conversation point of the undersized edge rusher just in
07:12general coming out of temple because he was literally an on ball edge.
07:16The majority of the time at temple, he went to the senior bowl and he showcased well as
07:20a true off ball linebacker because lo and behold, scouts thought he was a linebacker
07:25just because of his undersized nature.
07:27And then they kind of pigeonhole him into a role that he was never really comfortable
07:31being.
07:32But eventually when they said, Hey, let's take the shackles off, let's let you be an
07:35edge.
07:36Yes.
07:37He might never be a plus run defender in the NFL level, but what Hassan Redick was is one
07:41of the best sack artists at his heights in the NFL and a big part of why the Philadelphia
07:46Eagles were so successful in, you know, throughout the duration of the 2020s, right?
07:50So I think that you're talking about a player with a lot of upside as a pass rusher.
07:56You are going to have to be okay with him being a little bit of an outlier, right?
08:00Like he is going to be an outlier on the next level.
08:02That is what Jalen Walker is going to be.
08:05But if you're comfortable with what he can be on the next level, as far as a standup
08:08rusher, I think that you will be happy in the end if you choose to bet on an outlier
08:13a little bit in this situation, folks, let us know in the comments below, what team do
08:17you want to see Jalen Walker play for hit that like button and subscribe.
08:21We'll talk to you later.