Intrigued by Upside, Seahawks Take Flier on Hybrid LB D'Andre Walker

RENTON, WA - By all accounts, the Seahawks and all 31 other NFL teams experienced atypical training camps last month due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Players, coaches, team personnel, and even specific media members received daily testing. Aside from players sporting helmets at practice, everyone else in attendance wore a mask to help prevent spreading the virus. Locker rooms and other areas of the team facility were modified to incorporate social distancing measures, among other notable protocols.

But arguably the biggest change - at least from a football standpoint - was the elimination of preseason games. The league and NFL Players Association agreed to scrap exhibition play entirely in late July, replacing it with an extended, phased training camp more closely resembling traditional offseason programs.

With the preseason being axed, teams such as the Seahawks faced a unique challenge trying to evaluate talent from other teams heading towards cut down day. With over 100 games not being played, team scouts would have to resort to other measures examining players to potentially put a waiver claim on, including revisiting previous college film.

Illustrating the impact of these limitations, only 17 players were claimed off waivers in the entire league on Sunday. While the unprecedented lack of activity benefited the Seahawks by being able to sign 15 of their own players to the practice squad, they also made one of those claims on second-year linebacker D'Andre Walker.

Hitting the waiver wire after being cut by Tennessee, Walker presented a curious case for interested suitors. A fifth-round pick out of Georgia in the 2019 NFL Draft, he missed all of the preseason and his entire rookie season after being placed on injured reserve during the early stages of his first NFL training camp. As a result, he didn't have any NFL film for evaluation.

But when asked about taking a chance on Walker, coach Pete Carroll indicated the Seahawks were interested in the versatile defender during the pre-draft process two years ago. He applauded the team's scouting department for maximizing on their prior evaluations before a decision was made to put a claim on him.

"One of the things we did, we knew that you wouldn't have the [preseason] games, so we continued to stay in connection with their college film - all that you would have to go on," Carroll explained. "He has a couple spots that he can play. He can play SAM linebacker for us, could be a guy that's a candidate at the LEO spot for us as well."

The Seahawks apparent interest in Walker shouldn't come as a surprise. Back in April 2019, mere weeks before the actual draft, the team had one of their Top 30 prospect visits with him in Seattle.

During his first two years with the Bulldogs, Walker primarily played special teams, though he did produce seven quarterback pressures as a rotational EDGE defender during his sophomore season. Stepping into the starting lineup as a junior, he registered 13.0 sacks, 27.5 tackles for loss, and five forced fumbles in his last two years on campus.

Unfortunately, after leading Georgia with 7.5 sacks as a senior, Walker underwent sports hernia surgery that prevented him from working out at the NFL combine. This led to him falling to the fifth round before the Titans selected him No. 168 overall.

Though deemed healthy to start training camp, Walker suffered another significant groin injury early in training camp and the team promptly placed him on injured reserve, ending his rookie season before it began.

Now back healthy and having participated in Tennessee's training camp last month, Carroll sounded intrigued by the positional flexibility offered by the 6-foot-2, 251-pound Walker. Specifically, he cited his ability to rush and be disruptive off the edge, which is where he excelled at Georgia.

While the Seahawks need to wait and see how Walker looks on the practice field before determining whether he can be a contributor this year, Carroll is excited they were able to bring him into the fold and he should have a chance to compete at multiple spots right away.

"We thought it was a really good opportunity to get a guy that would have some upside, figuring they were probably going to put him on the practice squad maybe or do something with him knowing nobody knew anything about him since he didn't play last year... We're happy we got him."