NFL Draft
1/5/25
7 min read
Deone Walker 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Kentucky Wildcats DT
Height: 6060 (unofficial)
Weight: 348lbs (unofficial)
Year: Junior
Pro Comparison: TBD
Scouting Overview
Kentucky Wildcats defensive tackle Deone Walker is a supersized, athletic big man who plays in the heart of the defensive front. Walker exploded in 2023 with big-time sack numbers despite his massive frame, but in reality, his value as an NFL talent should be much more rooted in how he can continue to expand his game as a run defender.
Walker's ability to fire through gaps and attack the pocket is irregular, but he has the initial quickness and mass necessary to create push and collapse the pocket. His hands are active, albeit inconsistent. Each team and scheme will vary on the kind of workload Walker commands, but his floor is that of an early-down player who can create some havoc in the middle.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- He is a surprisingly nimble athlete, given his mountainous stature
- Has flashed good pass-rush IQ and the ability to deconstruct hands for secondary counters
- Has viable projection to either a penetration role or as a two-gapping presence
Negatives
- First-step explosiveness is irregular, and Walker is prone to popping up out of stance
- Offers a massive surface level for blockers due to poor flexibility
- Much less dangerous if initial charge out of stance is stymied
Background
Walker grew up in Detroit, MI, and played high school football for Cass Technical HS. He was rated as a 4-star recruit (247 Sports) as a member of the recruiting class of 2022 and played on both sides of the line of scrimmage as an offensive and defensive tackle during his time at Cass.
A two-sport athlete who also played basketball, Walker’s game has always been predicated on surprising mobility in spite of his size. Walker collected offers from Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Penn State, Tennessee, and Texas in addition to his eventual home at Kentucky and committed to play for the Wildcats in December of 2021.
Walker quickly emerged as a starter for the program, logging 36 starts in 37 appearances across three seasons with the team. He collected First Team Freshman All-American honors and Second Team All-SEC honors in 2022, Second Team All-SEC honors again in 2023, and Second Team All-SEC once again as a junior in 2024. Walker declared for the 2025 NFL Draft in early December of 2024, foregoing his final season of eligibility with the program.
Tale Of The Tape
Walker’s pass rush profile is what gets everyone most excited, but those reps are the least likely to translate to where Walker has the cleanest transition to the NFL game. This is a supersized player who plays supersized on a number of different fronts. Walker is hard to uproot and move in linear blocks and solo assignments for offensive linemen. He illustrates the power necessary to stack and shed blocks at the point of attack, and he’s got a stout gravitational pull as a tackler in between the tackles.
There’s plenty of appeal with his length and strength to play inside, which he did more of in 2024 as compared to his first two seasons when he was aligned more frequently in the B-gap and overtop of tackles. A multiple-front scheme could easily charge him with some mobility to play outside of a nose tackle or A-gap alignment in a gap control scheme, and he’d likely still find success stacking guards at the point of attack.
However, his usage and role overtop of tackles will stress his cornering and ability to flatten angles through contact to continue the pursuit to the quarterback, and that is where you start to lose the plot in trying to make him something that he isn’t.
This is still, preferably, an interior presence who can utilize his hands to break down blocks and his initial quickness to create uneven levels at the point of attack before slipping through to uncover in the backfield as a penetration player. Walker boasts surprisingly lateral quickness in these situations, and many of his plays along the line of scrimmage have come courtesy of a sudden disengagement into a gap.
Walker’s success in these opportunities lies with his initial quickness and ability to create exit creases for himself off of blocks — as opponents who can gear down his initial charge or beat him to the punch with heavy hands can get inside of his frame and his ability to get started again once he’s uncoiled and out of his stance is much more modest and limiting. If Walker uncovers and has to go head-up against ball carriers or quarterbacks in the pocket, he’s at risk of being run around without a complementary rush.
As he comes to balance, he will then need to restart himself to challenge ball carriers, but he fails to do so in a timely manner to finish his disruptive opportunities as the lone player to win into the backfield.
Yes, Walker found significant sack production as a sophomore in 2023. But those reps feel somewhat unlikely to factor into his pro projection or usage. They can create misleading expectations for his skill set, as they did for names like Danny Shelton, Raekwon Davis, and Siaki Ika in recent years. Unless Walker undergoes a dramatic body transformation, few teams will be eager to leave a 350-pound defensive tackle on the field in obvious passing situations — rendering his fun reps as a standup rusher irrelevant to his pro projection.
Walker’s pass rush presence is at times robbed by a lack of discipline out of his stance. He’ll pop up instead of out and surrender his chest without the threat of getting hip to hip with blockers or generating the initial push needed to bull rush the pocket.
In these instances, blockers can easily sit on their hips and leverage him as the low man before mirroring and framing him out; Walker struggles to get started again in these situations and will be rendered a nonfactor on the play.
His motor can wane at times throughout the flow of a game, as you’d expect from a 350lb defender who played upwards of 700+ snaps in 2023 and surpassed 525 snaps in both his freshman and junior seasons. When the light is lit, and he’s playing with urgency, he is capable of shuffling down the line in pursuit and helping to properly defend against outside concepts in the run game.
However, a workload proposition should absolutely be in play to maximize his conditioning.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Walker projects best as an athletic A-gap defender for a multiple-front scheme at the NFL level. He’s not explosive enough as currently constructed to warrant authentic 3-technique opportunities, and most teams are likely to have a better long & late down option on the roster to play.
If he can improve his pad level and anchor, he can keep himself in a position to play early downs and short-yardage opportunities. He’s a developmental talent who can be a part of a defensive rotation early on.
Grade: 73.00/100.00, Fourth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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