If you want to understand a player’s value to an organization the best place to start is their snap count.
This is the latest in a series of articles at Lions Wire examining the snap counts of the Detroit Lions’ 2018 rookies, analyzing how they were used in order to help us make predictions on their role in upcoming seasons.
If you missed any of the previous reviews, be sure to check out: Frank Ragnow and Kerryon Johnson.
Round 3 (#82 overall): Tracy Walker, Safety
The chart below displays Walker’s snap counts for all 16 games he was on the active roster, broken up by defensive snaps, the percentage of defensive snaps, special teams snaps and the percentage of special teams snaps.
Coming out of small school Louisiana-Lafayette, coaches knew there was going to be a learning curve to Walker’s game. He opened training camp as a third-string free safety and didn’t work his way up to the second team until after the second pre-season game.
Single-high safety is one of the more difficult positions on the field to master, and with it also being a critical piece in the Lions defensive scheme, it’s no surprise that coaches kept Walker in learning mode at the beginning of the season.
When Walker did see the field, most of his opportunities on defense came late in games and almost exclusively in the single-high position. It wasn’t until Game 9 against the Bears that Walker was given more positional range and allowed to play in the slot with more frequency.
In that Bears game, Walker illustrated he was ready for more responsibility, highlighted by a rangy pass deflection late in the game. The next week against the Panthers, Walker rewarded coaches again, coming up with another pass deflection and an interception.
When the Lions were eliminated from the Playoffs, it was full emersion time for the rookie and Walker saw his snap counts more than double over the final month of the season.
On Special Teams, Walker started out on the interior of the formations and was part of the delayed pursuit. The Lions struggled to find a capable gunner and eventually shifted Walker to the outside, where he was able to stabilize the position as the season progressed.
Walker’s 52.42-percent of special teams snaps was fourth most on the team behind only Miles Killebrew (77.8-percent), Nick Bellore (55-percent) and fellow gunner Charles Washington (52.7-percent).
Expectations for 2019
Walker has shown loads of potential in his limited time on defense, illustrating he can impact the game with his length, instincts and ball skills. He established himself as a solid third safety option as the 2018 season concluded, passing Tavon Wilson on the depth chart.
This will be his floor for 2019 and depending on what happens with Glover Quin, Walker could very quickly find himself in the starting lineup as either a single-high or slot safety.
Walker’s developmental ceiling is growing, and with a year experience under his belt, the Lions front office will be hoping he can turn into the player they were extremely excited to draft, sooner rather than later.
.png?w=600)
