Packers Rumors: Delusion at safety, Quay Walker’s growth, Zach Tom plans

Packers Rumors: Keeping Quay Walker ‘busy’ will be key to second-year growth

The first of two Georgia defenders that the Packers selected in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, linebacker Quay Walker had a fine season in terms of his performance between the whistles as a rookie.

While he showed a real need to improve in run defense, he was highly effective dropping into coverage, which makes sense looking at his draft pedigree as a bit of an undersized linebacker with elite athletic traits and length. He finished the season with 87 solo tackles, three forced fumbles and five pass breakups.

It was the stuff after the whistle that became a bit of a problem.

Walker was ejected twice in his rookie season, once for pushing a Bills practice squad player on the sidelines in Week 8 and in the regular-season finale as he pushed a Lions medical staff member as the staffer was attempting to tend to an injured Detroit player. So what do the Packers plan to do in order to keep that from being an issue in year two and moving forward?

Keep Quay Walker busy.

Linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti recently discussed the plan for the second-year backer and how to remedy the mental lapses after plays, noting that Walker was willing to learn from his mistakes after conversations they’d had, and putting forth this manner of dealing with that going forward:

“Play to the whistle, and then be so busy in between snaps that you don’t even notice what else is going on because you’re moving on to the next play,” Olivadotti said, via NFL.com. “There’s other parts to it also, but that’s a big part of it.”

How the Packers actually plan on keeping him busy between the snaps, that remains to be seen. But at least the coaching staff is aware of the issue, discussing it, and working toward some solution.