Hopes are high for the Green Bay Packers defense after a successful first year coached by Jeff Hafley, largely thanks to the playmaking ability of their new safety, Xavier McKinney. After spending his first four seasons with the New York Giants, McKinney signed a lucrative deal to join the Packers and enjoyed a breakout season in which he finished second in the NFL with eight interceptions.
However, McKinney wasn’t the only member of Green Bay’s defense to succeed under Hafley. Before suffering an ankle injury late in the season, inside linebacker Quay Walker had been playing some of the best football of his career.
This led McKinney to make some very bold remarks about Walker’s play in a recent interview.
“I think he’s one of the best linebackers in the league,” McKinney said during an appearance on the NFL Spotlight Podcast with Ari Meirov. “There are a lot of things he can do that a lot of linebackers cannot do. I think he’s going to continue to keep getting better. I think he’s going to continue to grow as a player. In the future, he’s going to be the best linebacker in the league. You can write that down.”
This was extremely high praise for a player who has been the focus of a lot of criticism over the years. The Packers drafted Walker with the 22nd pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, hoping he would anchor the middle of the defense through his athleticism and playmaking. While Walker has had stretches of elite play at times, his inconsistency has been an issue.
Off-ball linebackers are rarely drafted in the first round, and when they are, the expectations are sky-high. Walker has proven to be a productive starter but has yet to get any All-Pro consideration or be named to a Pro Bowl.
Green Bay appears to have an up-and-coming star in Edgerrin Cooper, though Walker still has a chance to grow in the new scheme. Hafley utilized Walker’s skillset as a blitzer at a higher rate to help augment the Packers’ pass rush. He finished with 2.5 sacks and 14 pressures on the year, and his ability to get into the backfield also paid off in the run game with nine tackles for loss. Walker has had no problem racking up tackles over the years, leading the team for the third straight season despite missing time.
An area where Walker needs to improve is making game-changing plays. In 2024, he failed to force or recover a single fumble or come away with an interception despite dropping what should have been an easy pick against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12. According to ESPN stats and info, it was Walker’s fourth dropped pick in three seasons.
Still, the coaching staff and general manager have continued to applaud Walker when discussing his impact.
“I think Quay continued to make a leap and (he’s) another guy who had struggled through injuries at the end of the year, but he was really impactful for us this year. Continues to be a great leader for us,” GM Brian Gutekunst said during his season-ending press conference.
We will learn more about how Gutekunst feels about Walker’s future very soon. Because he is entering the fourth year of his rookie contract, the team will have to decide whether to pick up Walker’s fifth-year option this offseason. The fifth-year option would cost $16,060,000 in 2026 and be fully guaranteed. If Walker’s fifth-year option isn’t picked up, then he will have to use next season to make a case for a second contract.
It doesn’t sound like McKinney wants to lose Walker as a teammate anytime soon, but that won’t be his decision when the time comes.