The Falcons spent the 15th pick of the NFL Draft on Georgia Edge Jalon Walker. He was much higher-rated in nearly all draft rankings. Our guy Shane Hallam had Walker as the fourth player overall on his big board. Walker spent just one season starting for the Bulldogs, and saw limited pass-rushing opportunities even then compared with other edge players. That's because Georgia also dropped him into coverage plenty.
Shane on our recent podcast previewing the edge prospects: "Walker ... did a little more traditional linebacker things, but when he pass rushes, it's really good. There's gonna be a lot more value than putting him as a weak-side linebacker. So I think he can do both. ... I think Jalon Walker could be one of those better NFL players than IDP players."
I'm with Shane there. Walker's intriguing as a real football player. He'd be exciting as a true edge -- and probably would have gone earlier -- if he didn't stand just 6'1 and 243 pounds. But the fact that he still went in the middle of Round 1 shows that the talent's plenty exciting.
His fantasy outlook will depend at least in part on exactly how the Falcons plan to use him. If Walker's rushing on just half his pass snaps like he did at Georgia, it might be tough for him to generate big fantasy production.
Walker isn't likely to land in impact territory in our 2025 IDP rankings.
I'd also bet I'll wind up lower than others on Walker as a dynasty prospect. I'm OK with passing on the uncertainty of how he'll score his fantasy points, because I'm not worried about missing out on a high fantasy ceiling.
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