GREEN BAY \u2014 Linebacker Quay Walker and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt have been connected for what seems like forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They played together on the same dominant, national championship-winning Georgia Bulldogs defense in 2021. They were chosen by the Green Bay Packers six picks apart in the first round of 2022 NFL Draft. And they head into training camp together facing pivotal 2025 seasons that will go a long way toward deciding their football futures \u2014 especially in Green Bay.<\/p>\n
The only difference is one \u2014 Wyatt \u2014 has slightly more job security after the Packers gave him the fifth-year option for 2026 while they declined the option on Walker\u2019s rookie deal, meaning he\u2019s in a contract year and will hit free agency if the team doesn\u2019t sign him to an extension.<\/p>\n
But regardless of their contract situations, both players will play key roles on defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley\u2019s unit, one that is looking to improve on an impressive first season when the Packers ranked in the top 10 in the 32-team NFL both in total defense (fifth, at 314.5 yards per game) and scoring defense (sixth, at 19.9 points per game).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit. That\u2019s all there is to say. Super Bowl,\u201d Wyatt replied at the end of the offseason program when asked what the defense might be capable of if emerging players like him and Walker play well. \u201cIf we all just come together, the sky\u2019s the limit for us. We\u2019re all still young. I don\u2019t know what everybody\u2019s contract looks like, but for this year, for us to have what we have, we can make that happen for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heading into the deadline for exercising fifth-year options, general manager Brian Gutekunst emphasized that whatever he did with Wyatt and Walker, he wanted to keep them both long-term.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever mechanism we use, we’d like to keep those guys around for \u201826 and beyond,\u201d Gutekunst said in April. \u201cWhether that’s through doing the fifth-year option on these guys or extending them one way or the other, we\u2019re planning to do that. We’d like to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this point, Walker has not gotten a contract extension, and he was unable to participate in the offseason program while working his way back from the December ankle injury that derailed his season.<\/p>\n
Walker, who has played in 44 of a possible 51 games in his first three NFL seasons (43 starts) and was ejected from two games as a rookie in 2022, seemed to have turn a corner last season in Hafley\u2019s system, recording 102 tackles, including a career-best nine tackles for loss, plus 2.5 sacks, three QB hits, two pass break-ups and 12 QB pressures.<\/p>\n
Walker did miss one game with a concussion and then suffered the ankle injury Dec. 15 at Seattle, missing the final three regular-season games thereafter \u2014 just as he was hitting his stride. He was scootering around with an orthopedic boot on his leg at the end of minicamp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we collectively have high expectations for him,\u201d head coach Matt LaFleur said at the end of minicamp. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that going into Year 2 of this system, he\u2019s mentally much further along.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s played some really good football. I think the challenge is, not only for him but for every player, how consistently can you go out there and play your best football? I expect him to be ready to go and play his best ball this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyatt, meanwhile, is in a similar spot. Although he didn\u2019t start a single game last year and has started just five games over his first three NFL seasons, Wyatt is coming off his most productive season with five sacks and nine tackles for loss last year. He figures to start this year following the free-agent departure of defensive tackle T.J. Slaton and the fact that the Packers drafted only one interior lineman \u2014 sixth-round pick Warren Brinson, who played collegiately at Georgia, just as Walker and Wyatt did.<\/p>\n
Wyatt was off to a strong start last season, registering three sacks, five tackles for loss and five QB hits in the first three games, before suffering an ankle injury against Minnesota on Sept. 29.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s had some moments where he\u2019s been outstanding, and I think we can build on that,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cI think he\u2019s done everything we\u2019ve asked him to do, throughout the course of the offseason. I think he\u2019s in a much better place, and I think that he\u2019ll be ready to go. [He\u2019s] another guy that I expect to go out there and play his best ball going into Year 4.\u201d<\/p>\n
About our \u201cMost Important Packers of 2025\u201d Series:\u00a0When the Packers kick off their seventh training camp under head coach Matt LaFleur on July 23, they\u2019ll do so with a host of players facing pivotal seasons. LaFleur clearly believes he has ample talent to be a Super Bowl contender \u2014 even if he didn\u2019t want to say so as the offseason program came to a close \u2014 but turning that belief into reality will require many of those players to produce at higher levels than they have in the past. This series, which began in 2010 on ESPNWisconsin.com<\/a>, examines each of those players and how the team\u2019s success hinges on their contributions. The list is compiled with input from team observers, former players and NFL sources.<\/p>\n \u200bCOPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREEN BAY \u2014 Linebacker Quay Walker and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt have been connected for what seems like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[2945,474,7,41,345,2514,2513,8628,3031,122,6,428,468],"class_list":{"0":"post-185886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-brian-gutekunst","9":"tag-devonte-wyatt","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-green-bay","12":"tag-green-bay-packers","13":"tag-greenbay","14":"tag-greenbaypackers","15":"tag-jeff-hafley","16":"tag-matt-lafleur","17":"tag-national-football-league","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-packers","20":"tag-quay-walker"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114806446917220105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}