The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may not have satisfied all of their fans by waiting until the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft to select a pass rusher, but Jason Licht may have found yet another diamond in the rough in Central Arkansas product David Walker.
While some fans are very enticed to see what the FCS product does in the NFL, he may have sustained an injury that could delay his introduction to the professional game.
Walker suffered an injury on a running play and was in pain on the ground for some time. Walker was able to eventually get up under his own power and leave the field, but this is certainly a scary incident that a beat-up Bucs team already down Tristan Wirfs did not need to sustain.
Bucs rookie EDGE David Walker suffers injury at training camp
Any pass rusher at the FCS level that gets picked as high as Walker was needed to dominate his competition, and he did that by piling up 12 sacks and pressuring the quarterback much more frequently. At 260 pounds with a nice toolbox of pass rush moves, Walker has all the traits needed to become an effective pro pass rusher.
However, Walker is an undersized player who doesn't have great speed for someone his size at the edge rusher position. He will also need as many reps as possible to get acclimated to the speed of the professional game, which makes every lost rep even more damaging for his development.
The Bucs likely planned to start the season with free agent signing Haason Reddick and YaYa Diaby as the starting outside linebacker pass rushers, with Walker fighting with Anthony Nelson and 2024 second-rounder Chris Braswell for playing time. Right now, the top backup role is anyone's game.
While the severity if the injury remains unknown, and Walker could just as easily bounce back into the lineup as soon as possible, the fact that Tampa Bay continues to deal with such concerning injury isues right as their NFC South defense begins once again is the direct opposite of what Todd Bowles wanted.