Quay Walker Playing Best Football of Career at Right Time

After back-to-back excellent games, Green Bay Packers linebacker Quay Walker must do it again on Thursday at the Detroit Lions.

Green Bay Packers linebacker Quay Walker (7) takes a moment before their game against the San Francisco 49ers. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – You’re familiar with the history of the linebacker position for the Green Bay Packers.

A position once personified by Ray Nitschke was largely a barren wasteland under the stewardship of Ted Thompson and Brian Gutekunst.

Jamari Lattimore, Brad Jones and Blake Martinez are some of the names who stood where Nitschke once did.

There were times under Dom Capers when the Packers would use safeties Morgan Burnett or Sean Richardson as linebackers to slow down opposing passing games.

The results were dismal. The Packers never found a long-term solution at linebacker.

While some of the league’s best defenses have boasted players like Fred Warner in San Francisco or Bobby Wagner in Seattle, the Packers never were able to find someone who resembled those impact players.

The position, despite Gutekunst’s objection, appeared to be devalued in Green Bay.

That changed going into March 2022.

The Packers signed veteran De’Vondre Campbell to a one-year contract in June 2021, and he responded with a surprise first-team All-Pro season.

In free agency the following offseason, the Packers rewarded Campbell with a big contact. That was the first sign of a change in the way they looked at that position.

The second came a month later during the draft.

Armed with the 22nd pick of the first round, the Packers selected Quay Walker.

The hope from Gutekunst was attempting to replicate some of the success the 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers had with their linebacker-centric defenses.

Walker was athletic but raw coming into the NFL.

The physical tools, however, were incredibly enticing.

Through his first two seasons, however, Walker rarely gave glimpses into the type of player he could become.

His rookie season is mostly remembered for being ejected from two games for shoving opposing team personnel.

His second season started with a bang, with Walker recording a pick-six in the team’s first game in Chicago.

That was the last of his impact plays in 2023. Walker struggled for most of the season. While the box-score stats looked great as he led the team in tackles for the second consecutive season, he had one interception and zero forced fumbles. The impact plays simply were not there.

This offseason, coach Matt LaFleur hired Jeff Hafley as his new defensive coordinator with an eye toward getting the best out of Walker.

“Quay is a talented player. As we build this thing, we’re going to make sure he’s in a position to make a lot of plays,” Hafley said in his introductory press conference. “So, whatever we feel as we piece this together, where that is, that’s where we’ll put him.”

The first nine games of the season saw more of the same for Walker.

The box score looked nice as he led the team in tackles, but the consistency had not been there.

Walker’s struggles were even more exaggerated a few weeks ago at Chicago.

Walker had two plays in which he had running back Roschon Johnson stopped in the backfield. Johnson was almost spun into the end zone by Walker on the first and then plowed through Walker into the end zone on the second. He had another play in which it looked like he had Caleb Williams dead to rights on a fourth down, but stopped before making a play on the quarterback.

After playing one of his toughest games as a pro, Walker saw a daunting task coming up on the schedule.

The offenses of Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers and Mike McDaniel’s Miami Dolphins are designed to put opposing linebackers in a blender.

Instead, Walker responded with the two best games of his season.

Hafley, in particular, credited Walker’s ability to attack practice to bounce back.

“I thought the way he responded and the way he practiced and in practice it was like he was on a mission last week, and then he went out and played like that,” said Hafley of Walker’s big day against the 49ers.

“He was fast, he was getting downhill, he tackled well. He played with great fundamentals, he was using his hands, he had a couple TFLs.”

Any player can do something once. Walker had a big moment against the Bears last year. He struggled after that.

He had another strong performance against Miami with 10 tackles and a key fourth-down sack.

“I feel like I have been playing a little better the past two games, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.” Walker said following the Packers’ 30-17 win over the Dolphins.

“Little better” might be an understatement.

According to Pro Football Focus, Walker’s grade for the first 11 weeks of the season was a below-average 55.6. The last two weeks have him at 79.9, which is excellent.

Next up on Green Bay’s schedule is a showdown with the physical Detroit Lions.

“I think it’s important to know your players, and sometimes you’ve got to be their biggest cheerleader. I do think a lot of us, especially in the coaching world, can be our own toughest critics. You love that about Quay. He wants to be perfect, but he’s got to realize this is an imperfect game, and sometimes you’ve got to let it go. If you make a mistake, hopefully it’s a learning lesson, and you just move on and go play the next play. But I know he puts a lot on himself, a lot of pressure on himself, but he’s a resilient dude and I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. I don’t think there’s anything in this game he cannot accomplish. I think he’s super-talented. I would expect he’s going to continue to improve and get better and better and better.”

- Packers coach Matt LaFleur

This is a different challenge for Green Bay’s linebackers.

Yes, the Lions use deception to attempt to distract linebackers in coverage, but they’re also willing to try and ram the ball down your throat.

LaFleur thinks his linebacker is just scratching the surface.

“I know he puts a lot on himself, and he’s a resilient dude,” LaFleur said. “I don’t think there’s anything in this game that he cannot accomplish.”

That’s heavy praise, but after these last two games, Walker has earned it, and his teammates are noticing.

“Quay is a hell of a player.” safety Xavier McKinney said. “From the time that I got around him when I first came to now, obviously he’s growing each game, each practice.

“But from my eyes, and from what I’ve seen, I believe Quay is the best middle linebacker in the league, in my opinion. I think he has so many different qualities that you don’t really see. He can cover well, he can tackle well, he shoots, he can do a lot of things.”

The Packers are going to need him to do a lot of things as they face their stiffest test of the year on Thursday in Detroit. 

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