The Jaguars made Travon Walker the first overall pick in this year’s draft because they believe he has the potential to be a star on defense in the NFL, but there’s work to be done before he’s ready to get on the field for the team.
Walker took part in their rookie minicamp over the weekend and spent his time on the field getting used to life as an outside linebacker. He said he “dibbled and dabbled” at the position while playing at Georgia, but is now getting a crash course from position coach Bill Shuey in things like dropping into coverage and pass rushing techniques.
“Just strictly working on outside linebacker things in practice I feel like I’m truly getting more comfortable with the position,” Walker said, via the team’s website. “There’s always room for improvement. Coming from Georgia, there was a lot of techniques we went over but also coming here [there are a lot]. At Georgia we ran a lot of techniques, but once I got here, [I had to] break down a lot of those techniques that I learned at Georgia, and focus on that one thing.”
Jacksonville passed on players who produced at a higher level in college because they think Walker’s ceiling is higher. Getting him comfortable in the coming months will be a necessary precursor to reaching it.