{"id":211772,"date":"2025-01-21T09:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T14:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=211772"},"modified":"2025-01-21T06:29:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T11:29:43","slug":"2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-david-walker-central-arkansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/21\/2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-david-walker-central-arkansas\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: David Walker, Central Arkansas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Walker has absolutely dominated at the FCS level and is one of the most hyped small school prospects in this cycle. Here is a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/12\/11\/defensive-nfl-draft-risers-in-2024-conference-championships\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2025 NFL Draft<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/20\/2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-kyle-williams-washington-state\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scouting Report <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and film analysis on him.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Overview, Film Analysis, And 2025 Scouting Report Of <\/b><b>Central Arkansas EDGE David Walker<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Measurables:<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6\u20192\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">260 lbs<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Player Background:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Walker originally started his collegiate career at Division II Southern Arkansas as an <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/team\/central-arkansas-bears-football-359\/Roster\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unranked 2019 graduate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He redshirted his first season with the team and slid into the linebacker role the following year. His skills were immediately put on display with eight sacks, 52 tackles, and a whopping 19.5 tackles-for-loss in 11 games. He chose to enter the transfer portal and ended up in Central Arkansas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He instantly became the face of the Bears&#8217; defense and took home conference DPOY honors in his first Division I season. Walker\u2019s breakout year saw him racking up 12 sacks and 21 TFLs. He put on another year of fantastic production in 2023 with 7.5 sacks, 18 TFLs, and a forced fumble. His disruption only continued into his last college season, with 10.5 sacks and four FFs in 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Accolades:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ASUN Defensive Player of the Year (2022)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First-Team All-ASUN (2022)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">United Athletic Conference (UAC) Defensive Player of the Year (2023)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First-Team All-UAC (2023)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First-Team All-UAC (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buck Buchanan Award Winner for FCS Outstanding Defensive Player (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First-Team All-UAC (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Strengths\/Pros:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walker has been a production machine throughout his collegiate career and is a high-effort sack artist. He has extended experience working within multiple alignments and flashes athletic tools all over the field. His hands are his best weapon as a pass rusher by far. He establishes hand leverage early and engages with tackles quickly to utilize his moves. His hands are violent and powerful at the contact point as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He\u2019s a solid speed rusher who gains early leverage and can win with first-step quickness to both the inside and outside. Walker\u2019s arms are strong enough to lock out and generate solid upper-body drive to push tackles into the pocket. His closing speed is excellent and he flies around the field against the run, finishing plays at all three levels. He showcases strong rip moves to win at the line and he changes angles mid-play well to offset offensive tackles\u2019 positioning.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Weaknesses\/Cons:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because of his stockier frame, Walker struggles with general hip stiffness. He cannot bend and dip under tackles when rushing the passer, which causes issues when working outside. This stiffness also decreases his balance consistency when driving through lower leverage and diminishes his power during those rushes. He needs to add more functional strength, as he has too many clear losses against larger linemen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He\u2019s built very compactly, which prevents him from striking out and attacking from a distance. That, combined with his stiffness issues, makes his margin for error much smaller. Walker gets into trouble when he has to resort to counter moves often. He becomes far too inconsistent and becomes sloppy and chaotic at the line. He\u2019s shown deficiencies in maintaining his leverage against the run and getting driven off his base. As with most FCS prospects, the level of his competition will be a story to watch.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Potential Team Fits:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bears\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chicago Bears<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/49ers\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">San Francisco 49ers<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/chiefs\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kansas City Chiefs<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>NFL Projection:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walker is definitely a project, but one NFL teams should be in on as a late Day 2 to early Day 3 pick. He\u2019s a natural producer who\u2019s shown tons of potential as a pass rusher and run-stopper in a plethora of schemes. An NFL coaching staff will have to teach him how to work within his frame and overcome some of his weaknesses, which is never a guaranteed success. He could develop into a consistent defensive presence, but it might take some patience and time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Prospect Grade:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mid To Late 4th Round<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Film Exposures:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2024 vs. Arkansas State<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2024 vs. North Alabama<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2024 vs. Lamar<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Kirby Lee &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview And Film Analysis Of 2025 NFL Draft Prospect And Central Arkansas EDGE David Walker, A Raw And Intriguing Project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5364,"featured_media":211792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[32605,33194,33195,32904,27083],"class_list":["post-211772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2025-nfl-draft","tag-central-arkansas-bears","tag-central-arkansas-football","tag-david-walker","tag-scouting-report"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5364"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211772"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211793,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211772\/revisions\/211793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}