Jaguars Top Picks Walker, Lloyd and Others Workout With Legendary Robert Mathis
Normally when former Indianapolis Colts pass-rusher Robert Mathis has come to Jacksonville in the past, it has been to terrorize the Jaguars.
Not this time, though.
Mathis, along with his Gridiron Gang program, was in Jacksonville on Thursday coaching up a host of Jaguars, ranging from Josh Allen and Adam Gotsis to Dawaune Smoot, K'Lavon Chaisson, Foyesade Oluokun and Jay Tufele.
But also included in the workout sessions were rookies and first-round picks Travon Walker (No. 1 overall) and Devin Lloyd (No. 27 overall) -- two defenders the Jaguars want to build their future around, and two defenders who Mathis can teach how to be impact players.
"Established in 2018, the premier football development program in the Midwest spearheaded by future NFL Hall of Famer Robert Mathis and pass-rushing great Daniel Muir. The Gridiron Gang Program provides year-round position training for student-athletes on and off the field through football development, nutrition planning, mental health and more," the Gridiron Gang's site says.
Walker specifically can learn a wealth of knowledge from Mathis, who is the Colts' all-time sack leader with 123 sacks.
Mathis finished his career ranked 17th in league history in sacks and his 47 sacks forced fumbles are a league record. He was named to six consecutive Pro Bowls (2008-2013) and was voted a 2013 Associated Press and Sporting News First Team NFL All-Pro selection. In short, Mathis is as good as it gets at the outside linebacker position, a position Walker is playing for the first time on a full-time basis.
"I kind of always dibbled and dabbled in the outside linebacker world. But just strictly working on outside linebacker things in practice I feel like I’m truly getting more comfortable with the position, learn a lot more techniques coming from that position and not have to learn so many different other positions," Walker said during rookie minicamp in May.
"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, just put them into a family and focus on that one thing.”
