Walker, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, is playing in his third scheme in five NFL seasons. With Campanile entering his second season with the Jaguars, this will mark the first time since 2022-2023 Walker has played in the same scheme two consecutive seasons. He said he is “definitely comfortable for sure” entering the season.
“As far as seeing a difference, obviously from last year, I had an injury, so I was playing through some things,” he said.
Walker, too, said he is focused on details as camp continues and added that he wants to use his length more in 2026 than he did in the past.
“Obviously, I’m a big power player,” he said. “I feel like if I play with my length a lot more, it’ll keep guys from getting on me so much and having to bench press and having to use my strength all the time. If I just start off locked out, I feel like I’ll take advantage of a lot more of my reps.”
Walker, who registered 10.0 sacks in 2023 and 10.5 in 2024, is perhaps the Jaguars’ most versatile defensive lineman – able to play most tackle and end positions along the front, and also able to drop at times in coverage and play off the ball. That versatility, along with his unique combination of size, strength and agility, makes Walker key to the Jaguars’ run defense and integral to the pass rush.
He increasingly moved inside to rush from the interior in passing situations last season, a role he could play this season as the Jaguars work to get better interior disruption and pressure.
“For anybody who plays the game of football, I feel like if you can move pieces around, especially an individual player along wherever, especially on the front, I feel like it can definitely create … the offense won’t be able to ID where he’s going to be every play, so it’s definitely going to keep them guessing as well,” he said.