Edge defender, 3 technique or both? What is Demarcus Walker?
By Tom Kavanaugh
How Demarcus Walker’s evolution started
Demarcus Walker was a prolific pass rusher at Florida State who improved every year in college. He finished his career strong with 11 and 17 sack seasons that shot him up draft boards. Ultimately, enticing the Denver Broncos to select him with the 51st pick in 2017.
Walker’s upwards trajectory unfortunately didn’t continue in his first couple seasons in the NFL. A lot of that rooted from him not being able to stick on the edge. In college, he primarily aligned outside of the tackle.
A necessary transition
The Broncos did not see him as an edge defender and used him more on the interior. I can’t say they’re wrong. Not only does Walker fit more of a tweener mold at 280ish lbs, but his athletic profile dramatically changes relative to which position he is at.
The spiders graphs (courtesy of Mockdraftable) up above show that Walker is a well below average athlete as an edge and a excellent athlete as an interior defender. His size isn’t ideal for the inside but the lack of athleticism is far more damning outside the tackle.
We’ve seen plenty of undersized defensive tackles have success in the NFL to where hardly any edge rushers with that poor of an athletic profile produce at a high level. Athleticism is very much a disqualifying threshold at that position that rushers must possess.
With that being said, Walker was going to have to make the shift to the interior. His transition seemed to be why he struggled to get on the field in Denver. He was basically learning a new position at the pro level.
As time went on, he started to figure it out. Especially, in these past two seasons. He ranked 4th in snaps played in 2021 among the Texans defensive line rotation and 7th for the Titans in 2022. His usage, however, has been pretty diverse throughout his career.
Walker has spent the majority of his time on the in between the tackles but had some run at edge as well. More than maybe his athleticism would suggest than he should. When trying to project out how the Bears will use him, the only hint that we heard is that GM Ryan Poles defined him as “versatile.”
Projecting Walker’s fit with the Bears
I am sure the Bears want to tap into that versatility but this type of player seems to stray away from the traditional 4 down front defense that they run. In these defenses, the defensive line roles are usually defined. The defensive ends play outside the tackle and the interior defenders play at the 1 or 3.
It isn’t typically designed to embrace these tweener defensive end types that odd fronts do. I tried think back to players of this mold that Matt Eberflus has featured into his defense before, and a light bulb came on.
Denico Autry is a very similar comparison to the type of player that Walker is. A bigger edge who didn’t have the athleticism to cut it there full time. Autry really found a niche with the Colts, and I am assuming that’s what the Bears had in mind with Walker.
Autry played a good bit of everything during his time with Flus. I believe this is the closest thing to a blueprint to project Walker’s usage. The current state of their defensive line might alter his versatility though. The Bears overhauled their interior defensive line and left their edge room relatively the same this offseason.
If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it
I expect them to make an edge move before the season starts, but everything is telling us that they are perfectly content with Walker at defensive end. That would be a mistake in my opinion. Not just because I worry about Walker’s athletic limitations in that role but also believe he is their best 3 tech option.
This regime still seems to have faith in incumbent starter, Justin Jones. That makes sense to some extent. He was a captain last year on a team that really needed to lean on its leaders through rough times. That said, his product on the field isn’t keeping me from trying something else.
Jones has always had his limitations in the run game with holding the POA and or getting off blocks to make plays behind the LOS. He is okay as a rusher but not effective enough to offset his deficiencies on early downs.
Run defense isn’t a strength of Walker’s game, but he is a lot more stout in how he holds up there. There aren’t many plays where he gets blown off the ball. I was surprised about how well he battled against double teams for being undersized.
He ranked 21st/98 in run stop percentage (9.5%) among interior defenders (according to PFF) last season. Justin Jones was significantly worse at 6.8%, which ranked 76th. A lot of this checks out on tape.
From a pass rush perspective, it’s not really close either. Walker has some really impressive reps in which he deconstructs blocks in hurry with violent hands. His athleticism is an asset why between the tackles because he is more explosive in a linear fashion.
He posted a 13.3% pass rush win rate ranked that ranked 20th and ranked 4th in pass rush productivity among IDLs in 2022 (PFF). I would want to see if that production could be even better in expanded role where he would be playing the bulk of the snaps.
Not to mention, that those numbers surpass any of Jones’s 5 seasons in the NFL. To not continue to tap into Walker’s upwards trajectory as an interior player is leaving meat on the bone. He has played his best football there so why change that.
I also would argue that playing him on the edge hurts his impact. As mentioned earlier, Walker falls short in almost all of the athletic thresholds that are so crucial to play outside the tackle. That reality shows up on tape whenever he was used there.
The burst and change of direction ability just aren’t up to par for him to threaten the edge against NFL tackles. He cannot corner around a tackle’s outside shoulder, making him one dimensional. He either must win with power or inside moves, which is a massive tell for his opponents to sit on.
In the run game, Walker has the toolset to be an edge setter as a DE. However, I worry about how he defends in space because of the athletic limitations. The read option game, being on the backside of wide zone, bubble screens, etc. aren’t situations where I want him as the conflict defender
Opposing offenses can make him defend some ground and expose his lateral range with these kind of tactics. There isn’t a lot of tape of him doing these things because teams have tried to protect him in this regard.
Bottom line…
Demarcus Walker gets the versatile label because he “can” play in multiple but spots. Being able to play in multiple spots and playing those spots well are two different things. Everything about Walker’s profile suggests he should play on the interior.
Playing him primarily on the edge because he is the best of a bad group is not good process. They would be making two spots worse before making one better. The best return they could get on their investment would be utilizing him where he is best, at 3 tech.
Unless one of the rookies they drafted way over exceeds immediate expectations, Walker should be the favorite to be the engine that makes Eberflus’s defense go in 2023.