{"id":800271,"date":"2026-08-03T01:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T01:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/800271\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T01:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T01:17:08","slug":"after-lost-rookie-season-bucs-lb-david-walker-is-turning-heads-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/800271\/","title":{"rendered":"After lost rookie season, Bucs LB David Walker is turning heads again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last year, Buccaneers rookie linebacker David Walker was making a great impression. But then, in the team\u2019s third training-camp practice, he suffered a torn ACL.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Walker is back. And he\u2019s back to making a great impression again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s got his quickness and his speed back,\u201d Bucs coach Todd Bowles said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. \u201cSo as a pass rusher, he\u2019s looked very good as far as his movements and everything else. I was just excited to see him in pads last year [before the injury], so right now <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/sports\/bucs\/2026\/08\/02\/bucs-linebacker-david-walker-is-healthy-drawing-buzz-camp\/?utm_source=x&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=SocialNewsDesk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">he looks very good<\/a>. He\u2019s looking fast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walker, a fourth-round pick, is ready to make the impact he didn\u2019t get a chance to make in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to thank God,\u201d Walker said, per Stroud. \u201cThe injury was big and the whole time I knew that He didn\u2019t bring me this far to bring me this far. So I knew I had to attack rehab, I knew I had to do those things and I\u2019m here. I\u2019m back playing the game that I love. It\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Bucs will get a better look at what he can do when he practices for the first time in pads, on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he can do almost everything,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cHeight-wise, he\u2019s probably the shortest of the bunch. Everybody forgets he\u2019s 260-something. He plays with great leverage and power. I think he\u2019s played both sides. He\u2019s probably a good inside kicker as well getting off the ball and doing some things like that. So when he gets the pads on, we\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201dI\u2019m just taking it day by day,\u201d Walker said. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to look too far ahead. I\u2019m not trying to look at whether I might be playing or not. I\u2019m trying to do what I can do to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If he does what the Bucs think he can do, they\u2019ll go a long way toward boosting their pass rush. Having first-round rookie Reuben Bain Jr. won\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, Buccaneers rookie linebacker David Walker was making a great impression. But then, in the team\u2019s third&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-800271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}