By: Michael Higgins

School: Kentucky

Class: Junior

Position: DT

HT: 6’7

WT: 350 lbs

Background: Deone Walker was a 4-star defensive lineman out of Detroit, Michigan in the 2022 class. Walker was a top 3 player in the state and a top 300 player nationally by all major outlets. Deone prepped at Cass Technical, where he played both defensive and offensive line. Walker was an All-State selection as a senior for his play on both sides of the ball. He also played basketball for Cass Tech. Deone Walker chose to play for Kentucky over Georgia, Michigan, Alabama, and Missouri.

College: Walker was a Freshman All-American, All-American honorable mentions, and Second Team All-SEC for the Wildcats in 2022 after posting  40 tackles and 4.5 TFLs. 2023 saw Deone be named an All-American and All-SEC member once more. He led the team with 12.5 TFLs and 8 sacks. Walker was on just about every watchlist as a junior in 2024. His production took a dip as he only tallied 1.5 sacks but he still made a big enough impact to be an All-SEC member again. After his college career, Walker participated in the Reese’s Senior Bowl.

Strengths: Deone Walker is a massive human being on the interior of the defensive line. Walker is not only a large presence, but he is explosive and has great movement skills for his size. He explodes out of his stance to get under the pads of his opponent. He has active and violent hands in the phone booth to overwhelm the slower interior offensive linemen. He is an effective pass rusher on the inside with an extensive list of pass rushing moves and counters to win his matchups. Walker may be the best pound-for-pound athlete in this draft. Demanding a double team on the interior creates advantageous one-on-one matchups for his teammates on the edge. He has impressive movement skills for anyone at his position, but especially someone of his size. He can be seen lined up anywhere along the defensive line and has occasionally been deployed in coverage. 

Weaknesses: Walker tends to play at too high of a pad level, allowing opponents to win the leverage battle and knock him off his rush. While his size can be a big advantage, it can also be a disadvantage if he doesn’t learn how to get lower to win reps consistently. Walker will not be able to chase around the quarterbacks who move around and improvise behind the line of scrimmage for too long. He also has inconsistent hand placement at the point of attack. If he misses that first punch, he struggles to win back the rep.

Conclusion: Deone Walker is a massive interior defensive lineman with a high athletic upside. His ability to clog multiple rushing lanes at once will be extremely valuable while his pass-rushing ability on the interior will provide for a dynamic skillset in the NFL. If he can prove to be consistent with his pad level and play lower, it will be hard to poke real holes in his game.

Scheme Fit: 3 Man Front

Ideal Role: 1 Tech

Best Team Fits: BUF, CIN, LAC

Player Comparison: T’Vondre Sweat

Player Grade: Round 3 (78.2)