Quay Walker has been the guy for the Green Bay Packers since he arrived in town. Coming out of Georgia, Walker was a rangy linebacker known for his athleticism and quickness. De’Vondre Campbell came out of nowhere to improve Green Bay’s linebacking corps and worked as Walker’s counterpart during his first two seasons. Now Campbell is gone, and opponents are exposing the flaws in Walker’s game.
According to PFF, Walker was Green Bay’s worst-graded player against the Indianapolis Colts. He has a 48.3 grade through two weeks, which PFF considers poor. Walker is ranked 50th out of 56 graded linebackers through two weeks.
Things are just not going right for him in his third season:
Walker still leads the team in tackles with 17 and is on pace to break his career-high in tackles set during his rookie season. However, he’s not making as many plays as he should.
In the play above, Walker is in a prime position. He reads the guard coming off the double team and moves to the second level to block him. Walker then sees Anthony Richardson hand the ball off to Jonathan Taylor.
The problem here is Walker had the ball coming right to him. He just had to drive into the ball carrier or be lighter on his feet and wait for Taylor to come into him. Instead, Walker does not do either and chooses to engage with the guard. Then Walker tries to get back to covering the lane he was in, or the lane Taylor is going into, and he can’t make a play. It’s frustrating to see his mental indecisiveness in Year 3.
Walker makes another mental mistake in the play below:
The former Georgia Bulldog takes the read step to the right when the guards move to the left. From there, Walker has to recover and go back to the ball. Walker sees the lane that the tackle and the guard have made.
That’s Walker’s lane to fill, and he needs to attack from there. McDuffie did his job, engaging with the lineman to fill the gap and force Taylor back where Walker should have been. Instead, Walker sees Taylor going to his right and decides to try to go around the pile to meet Taylor when he comes out of it. However, Taylor backcuts behind his wall of linemen and goes for 15 more yards while Walker takes himself out of the play with another mental error in the run game.
To be fair to Walker, Isaiah McDuffie has a 46.6 grade through two weeks. McDuffie has mostly worked on special teams in his four years in Green Bay. However, he’s been getting more reps next to Walker with Campbell out. McDuffie made some splash plays but was pretty inconsistent in the run game on Sunday.
The Packers got high-level linebacker play from another member of the unit. Eric Wilson was at his best against the Colts on Sunday. Wilson was Green Bay’s highest-graded player. He only got eight snaps, but he looked fantastic. Wilson recorded a huge stop in open space on a screen and picked Richardson off.
Wilson has been a core special teams player in Green Bay and made two crucial plays this week that greatly impacted the game. Maybe Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley had seen enough from Walker and wanted to get Wilson some reps.
Look at Walker and McDuffie in the play above. McDuffie does what Walker should have done, but Indianapolis tight end Mo Alie-Cox puts him on his butt. Walker reacts too late to this and gets covered by the tackle. The Colts take Green Bay’s weak-side backers out of the play. If Wilson doesn’t make this play, Trey Sermon may still be running.
Wilson’s other stellar play was intercepting Richardson on a big Colts drive in the fourth quarter. Wilson dropped around the sticks and kept his eyes on the quarterback while feeling the receiver’s route near him. He flips his hips to stick with his assignment and make a play on the ball.
The rookie linebackers have not been getting much playing time. Edgerrin Cooper only got seven snaps against the Colts, and third-rounder Ty’ron Hopper has not been a factor on defense. Perhaps these guys could see more snaps going forward to push the current starters or even replace them if they continue to perform better.
Walker would benefit from a shift to a simplified role. However, the Packers may be unable to move him out of that spot. Green Bay really doesn’t have any true Mike linebackers or the linebacker at the middle of the 4-3 who calls the plays and runs the defense. Hafley should move Walker to the Will, or weak side backer, and see if the results are better. That should simplify the game and allow him to be more aggressive. The only problem with that is the Packers don’t have someone capable enough to play Mike backer at a high level.
While Wilson’s heroics were awesome, he can’t do that every week. Green Bay’s defense will need more from Quay Walker in Year 3. He alone is not at fault; the rest of their linebacking unit needs to be better if the defense wants to be elite. They cannot count on heroic performances from special teamers every week. They must find a way to make it work with who they have, starting with No. 7.
All stats and data via ESPN, PFF, Football Reference, and Green Bay Packers unless otherwise noted.
