{"id":218270,"date":"2025-02-21T16:32:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T21:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=218270"},"modified":"2025-02-21T16:32:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T21:32:45","slug":"jalon-walker-scouting-report-one-of-the-top-edge-rushers-in-the-2025-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/21\/jalon-walker-scouting-report-one-of-the-top-edge-rushers-in-the-2025-nfl-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalon Walker Scouting Report: One of The Top Edge Rushers in The 2025 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jalon Walker projects to become a star defensive lineman in the NFL. His traits are off the charts and teams looking to bolster their defense are in luck. In this scouting report we explore the next great Edge Rusher in the NFL Draft from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/tag\/georgia-bulldogs\/\" target=\"_self\">Georgia Bulldogs<\/a>, Jalon Walker.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Measurables:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6\u20192\u2033 (u)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">245 lbs (u)<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Player Background:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walker was a 4-star prospect out of High School. He was ranked in the top 50 in his recruiting class and committed to Georgia. He joined the Bulldogs and initially contributed on Special Teams and was a rotational LB. As a freshman, he saw minimal action in Georgia\u2019s National Championship win against TCU. Walker worked his way up the ranks in Georgia\u2019s star-studded defense and in his final season he won the Butkus Award, given to the nation&#8217;s top LB. Walker played all over the field in Kirby Smart\u2019s complex defense but projects to be an Edge defender at the NFL level.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strengths:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jalon Walker on tape is an incredibly intriguing prospect in this draft class. His combination of length, bend, and burst makes for a desirable edge prospect. Walker can win with pure speed but also with power. He is quick off the line and can take on blocks by turning his speed into power. Walker is a twitchy and sudden athlete who possesses the necessary bend to beat blockers with speed. He is explosive and heavy-handed and can disrupt the pocket by standing up blockers and getting into the backfield.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walker played in many different spots and alignments in college and showed a level of aggressiveness and violence as a run defender. On the ball, he will set a strong edge and utilize his range to become a complete run defender. He maintains a strong pad level and is slippery in working upfield to clog up run lanes. Walker does well staying disciplined and making sure not to rush too far upfield. He is always in position to disrupt the run game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kaleb Johnson Scouting Report - 2025 NFL Draft &amp; Dynasty Fantasy Outlook\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ehmePnwYHtw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Weaknesses:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walker wasn\u2019t always used as a primary edge rusher. He didn\u2019t display a ton of pass-rush moves and often relied on athleticism over technique to get to the QB. He is also on the smaller side for an edge defender. There were some reps where his high motor and athleticism weren\u2019t enough. He will need to get stronger at the next level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walker can be impactful right away but the pass rush is a work in progress. Limited snaps on the line can be a knock on him but I project him to have no problem in his transition to the next level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Potential Team Fits<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/panthers\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Carolina Panthers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bears\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chicago Bears<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/giants\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Giants<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NFL Projection:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jalon Walker can become an absolute elite Edge in the NFL. His traits are exciting and he was impactful when he was lined up on the ball at Georgia. With him, it\u2019s about projection, but he\u2019s not as raw as you\u2019d think. Walker can be impactful right away and can quickly become a high-level defender. Walker is powerful and long. His explosiveness will translate very well and his sneaky bend will disrupt opposing offenses. His athleticism will be on display in an NFL-style defense and he\u2019ll be able to become an absolute game wrecker.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prospect Grade:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early First Rounder<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><a  href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/KYtEi08rXAE?si=Iv3HXVoMK1rTdN4B\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Watch &#8211; All-22 Film Study on the Top Running Back in the 2025 NFL Draft<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We dive into one of the top edge prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft, Jalon Walker. The Georgia defender is a freak athlete with a high ceiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5438,"featured_media":212269,"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":[32605,2218,33220,7661,27083],"class_list":["post-218270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2025-nfl-draft","tag-georgia-bulldogs","tag-jalon-walker","tag-panthers-featured","tag-scouting-report"],"modified_by":"Mike Kashuba","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218270","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\/5438"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218270"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218541,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218270\/revisions\/218541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}