Georgia football has a player in D’Andre Walker heading to the combine who won’t be able to work out due to injury, but he could still be an early NFL pick.
D’Andre Walker left UGA with more sacks in a season than any player under Kirby Smart since he arrived in Athens. The Georgia football standout OLB had 7.5 sacks this season and he was clearly the Dawgs best pass rusher this season. The drop off that occurred when Walker was injured in the 2nd half of the SEC title game was obvious. Talented as players like Adam Anderson and Brenton Cox are, no player on UGA’s roster was the pass rusher that Walker was last season.
That injury has drailed Walkers offseason. He had an invite to go to the Senior Bowl and I expect that he would really have impressed if he had been able to attend. He is also going to be unable to perform at the NFL Combine although he is going to go and do interviews with teams.
I think that Walker has similar draft stock to Lorenzo Carter last season. Both are physically gifted players who flashed excellent pass rush skills at times. The big difference between the two, however, is in their strengths. Carter is so valuable because of his versatility. He’s great in coverage for an OLB and can pretty much do it all. Walker is a fantastic pass rusher and he will likely succeed in a different system than Carter.
Carter can thrive in any system but Walker is much more of a 3-4 OLB. If put in the right position, he’s going to be a consistent player for a very long time in the NFL. He’s got all of the skills to make an impact at the next level and while he might not ever be a pro bowler, he’s going to be just what he was at UGA, a solid player who brings leadership ability to a locker room.
Walker is the kind of guy who is going to fit in really well in a locker room. Carter was drafted at the top of the 3rd round last season and I think Walker’s film suggests that he should be a day 2 pick as well. It’s a shame that he’s been injured because if he had a chance to show his physical abilities, I think he could go even higher than round 3. In the end, however, I think that’s the round that he goes and in my mind, that’s going to be a great value for a team.