Packer Central

PFF’s Defense Rankings Include Bizarre Snub

Pro Football Focus’ rankings of the top 32 linebackers in the NFL include De’Vondre Campbell and not Quay Walker.

Bill Huber

Packers LB Quay Walker
Packers LB Quay Walker / Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – De’Vondre Campbell is one of the top linebackers in the NFL. Quay Walker is not. At least that’s the judgment of Pro Football Focus.

PFF has been rolling out its top 32 players at every position. Campbell is 19th among linebackers. He was a surprise All-Pro for the Green Bay Packers in 2021, a dominant season that earned him a five-year, $50 million contract. However, after two disappointing seasons, the Packers dumped him this offseason – his contract came off the books on Sunday – and he signed with the rival San Francisco 49ers.

“Campbell should be a nice addition for the 49ers’ defense, giving them cover while Dre Greenlaw works his way back from injury,” Gordon McGuinness wrote. “Campbell didn’t manage to hit the heights of his 2021 campaign with the Packers in the past two years, but he has earned PFF grades above 65.0 in each of the past three seasons.”

You can argue for and against Walker’s presence among the NFL’s top 32 linebackers. It’s almost impossible, however, to argue that Campbell is a better player than Walker.

Walker started 14 games last season and tallied 118 tackles, 2.5 sacks, seven tackles for losses, one interception and three passes defensed. He averaged 7.19 snaps per tackle and had a missed-tackle rate of 9.2 percent. In coverage, according to PFF, he allowed an 85.2 percent completion rate, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 109.8.

Campbell started 11 games last season and finished with 75 tackles, three tackles for losses, zero sacks, zero interceptions and one pass defensed. He averaged 7.67 snaps per tackle and had a missed-tackle rate of 9.9 percent. In coverage, he allowed a completion rate of 80.0 percent, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 142.4.

Sports Info Solutions has an EPA-based metric called total points for players on offense and total points saved on defense. Walker saved 18, down sharply from 41 in 2022. Campbell saved one, his play falling off a cliff compared to 2021, when he was second among linebackers with 59.

“He’s been awesome,” 49ers linebackers coach Johnny Holland said of Campbell recently. “I’ve been watching him play for a long time, [since] he was a rookie in 2016 at Atlanta. It’s his ninth year in the league now, and he’s gravitating to our system. He has such good awareness in coverage and his ability to still run and play. And so we’re excited about having him, and he will fit good in our system.”

Walker is playing middle linebacker in new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 scheme. He’ll likely wear the green dot as the defense’s communicator.

“I can’t speak to anything before I got here, but this guy is very dialed in,” new position coach Anthony Campanile said. “I’m very excited for him, and I think he’s trying to do things the right way. He’s a really, really talented guy, and beyond that he’s a great person.

“He really is like a great guy to be around – got the right attitude, is driven and wants to be great. So, he’s really trying to be very, very detailed in the meeting room, on the field. So, to continue to do that, I would say, is the No. 1 way to continue down that road.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.