It has been hard to define the selection of Quay Walker in the first round back in 2022 as truly a success or a failure through three seasons, as he has become something of a polarizing player among the Green Bay Packers fanbase.

Even the Packers themselves seem unsure, with GM Brian Gutekunst declining his fifth-year option but indicating the club will look to secure a contract extension with Walker instead.

Perhaps a good way to cut through the debate is to take a look at the numbers. Here is Walker’s statistical profile since entering the league, looking at all three phases of linebacker play: run defense, pass coverage, and pass rush.

Strengths

In terms of consistent strengths of Walker’s game, there are two main areas, the first of which is missed tackles.

Securing tackles and getting the ball carrier to the ground is obviously a hugely important part of the job description of a linebacker, and Walker has fared well in that fundamental task and has been a safe pair of hands.

Among qualified NFL linebackers since 2022, Walker ranks in the 72nd percentile in missed tackle rate, missing only 8.5% of his tackles across three seasons.

He has also done a good job of preventing completions in the passing game, ranking in the 71st percentile compared to his peers in forced incompletion percentage (FI%). He led the league in FI% as a rookie.

While the list of exceptional aspects of Walker’s game is not long, he is at least above average in various statistical categories, across all three phases of linebacker play.

Walker ranks between the 53rd and 64th percentile in QB hits and hurries per pass rush opportunity, sacks per opportunity (SK/OPP), pass rush win rate (WIN%), and PFF’s pass rush productivity (PRP) metric). He has 8 sacks and 42 pressures in three years according to PFF.

In the run game, he has fallen between the 50th and 65th percentile in tackles per snap (TKL/S), assisted tackles per snap (ATKL/S) and stop rate, which are tackles resulting in a failure for the offense.

In coverage, Walker ranks between the 54th and 63rd percentile in reception percentage allowed (REC%), NFL passer rating allowed (NFLPR), yards allowed per snap (Y/SNAP), as well as stops per game against the pass.

Weaknesses

There is only one statistic in which Walker has performed well below average and could be considered a legitimate weakness across his entire body of work, and that is penalties.

He falls in just the 33rd percentile in penalties committed per snap since 2022 compared to his fellow NFL linebackers.

The other two categories Walker has consistently graded below average are turnover worthy plays per snap (TWP/S), which are interceptions and forced fumbles combined, and average depth of tackle (AVDT), ranking in the 39th percentile in both.

Walker has not impacted the game often enough with big plays, with only one career interception back in 2023, and three forced fumbles, all of which came as a rookie. He has two dropped interceptions in each of the last two years.

AVDT is a good indicator of how often linebackers are making meaningful tackles, closer to the line of scrimmage, rather than just cleaning up after a successful play by the offense. Walker’s relatively low ranking there indicates he has been more solid than spectacular in any meaningful way.

Trending up

Encouragingly for Green Bay, Walker has shown growth in several areas of his game across his career to date.

As a pass rusher, his SK/OPP ranking has gone up each year from the 51st percentile as a rookie, to the 61st in 2023 and the 77th last season. He has three sacks in each of the last two years.

His underlying numbers in terms of the PRP metric has also improved each year from the 56th percentile to the 63rd and then the 72nd in 2024.

Walker took a jump as a run defender overall between his first and second seasons, and has sustained that level. This is partially due to his marked improvement in missed tackle rate. After falling in the 54th percentile as a rookie, he has ranked in the 82nd percentile since then.

He has also shown he can improve on the weak areas of his game. Walker ranked in the 10th percentile for penalties per snap as a rookie, before improving to the 42nd and then the 48th percentile in the last two years.

The same trend is visible in his AVDT, which went from the 8th percentile, one of the worst in the league as a rookie, to the 46th and then the 63rd percentile in 2023 and 2024 respectively, perhaps displaying his increased ability to read the game and react more quickly.

Trending down

There are only a few spots where Walker has declined over the years, with TWP/S being the most glaring. After ranking in the 90th percentile as a rookie with those three forced fumbles, he has been in the 14th percentile since then, with just one interception since 2023.

His overall numbers in terms of WIN% as a pass rusher have been just above average, but this is carried by an 81st percentile ranking in 2022, compared to the 39th percentile in the last two years.

Walker’s FI% has fallen each year from the 98th percentile to the 62nd and then the 52nd. It has never been below average, and has still been a strength of his game across the three seasons, but is currently heading in the wrong direction and is something he can look to rebound in.

Overall, the numbers say Walker has been an above average linebacker, not excelling at much, but possibly more importantly not being a liability in any aspect either.