Jalon Walker NFL Draft: Analyst predicts Georgia star to get selected by promising NFC team

NFL draft analyst Chad Reuter has projected Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker to land with the Carolina Panthers. Reuter predicted Walker will be picked No. 8 overall in his recent seven-round mock draft.

Walker is a junior edge rusher from Georgia. The Panthers, meanwhile, are looking to rebuild what was statistically the NFL's worst defense in 2024. Outside linebacker is their most glaring positional need.

In his comprehensive mock draft released on Friday, Reuter explained his rationale for the Panthers-Walker pairing.

"Walker steps into the Panthers' scheme as a pass rusher, a role in which he showed great promise at Georgia," Reuter wrote. "His quick, strong hands help him win after the snap, and his quickness to the ball make him a menace when teams try running plays to his side of the field."

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Walker was raised in Salisbury, North Carolina, just an hour from Bank of America Stadium, and his father, Curtis Walker, was the coach of Salisbury College from 2013-2022. Jalon was born in Conway, South Carolina, when his dad coached at Coastal Carolina from 2002-2011.

Jalon Walker's versatility has become his calling card

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During the NFL Combine, Jalon Walker highlighted his exceptional positional flexibility as a key differentiator from other prospects in this draft class.

"I feel that makes me the different chess piece that no one else compares to," Walker said to reporters in February.

Panthers general manager Dan Morgan clarified his vision for Walker at a pre-draft news conference on Tuesday.

"He's an outside linebacker for us, and I feel he can do a lot in our defense," Morgan said. "He can play on the outside, you can move him inside, you can do a lot of different things with him on the defense."

The Georgia standout recorded 6.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss in 2024, his first season as a primary off-ball linebacker. Meanwhile, Jadeveon Clowney and D.J. Wonnum led Carolina's outside linebackers with just 5.5 and 4.0 sacks, and both are in the final year of their contracts.

Panthers coach Dave Canales has also expressed admiration for Walker's leadership qualities.

"Just ask him about how he impacts his teammates," Canales said on March 30, via 'Up and Adams.' "Every single Georgia Bulldog we talked to (when) they talk about Jalon Walker, they talk about the accountability, the way he pulls the whole group together, the way he plays with his hair on fire and communicates and all those things."

Jalon's father, despite understanding NFL teams' need for secrecy around draft intentions, admits curiosity about his son potentially landing in Carolina. "You can tell me if they're going to take him," Curtis Walker joked in an ESPN interview published on Thursday. The draft is scheduled to take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin, this coming Thursday.

Edited by Victor Ramon Galvez