‘It doesn’t make sense.’ NFL draft analyst raves about Kentucky’s Deone Walker.

On a recent episode of the Pro Football Focus NFL Podcast, PFF draft analyst Dalton Wasserman positively gushed over Kentucky defensive tackle Deone Walker .

In the “2025 NFL Draft Class Overview” episode, Wasserman raved about Walker’s athletic ability for his size, and singled the Wildcat out along with Michigan’s Mason Graham at the position.

“The biggest number 0 jersey you’ll ever see in your life.” Wasserman said of Walker. “Last year at 6-foot-6, playing over 350 last year, I believe he was telling (an interviewer) that he took off around 20 pounds and is in the 330s now. He led the nation in pressures at that size. Led the Power Five with eight sacks. An 85th percentile athlete even at 6-6 and 350. And just like, it makes no sense.

“Like Graham makes sense. That’s what a defensive tackle looks like, a top-10 defensive tackle. Walker doesn’t make any sense because actually the best part of his game is his finesse. You watch a guy at like 355 with a legitimate spin move. It makes no sense at all. Sometimes big guys just try the spin move and it’s just like you’re getting a little too fancy on us now. No, this is a real thing. Hand usage. Pass rush moves. He actually needs to add a little bit of lower body strength to work on the bull rush, just to get the power going a little bit more often.

“It’s really hard to explain Deone Walker and the type of freak he is. I think there are going to be NFL scouts that see a bit of Chris Jones in him when he gets his polish a little bit more right. He’s that good.”

Walker is currently No. 6 on PFF’s 2025 NFL Draft Big Board .

Podcast host Sam Monson said he saw someone comparing Walker to New York Giants defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence . Walker doesn’t play nose tackle, as does Lawrence.

“Deone Walker is athletic enough where he could play off the edge. You could put him out there,” Wasserman said. “The only reason you don’t is because I don’t know if you could get him down below 320. You don’t have 320 pound defensive ends. But even on the occasion he does that at Kentucky. He’s a D-tackle, he’s that big.

“I think Dexter Lawrence, his body is a bit thicker than Deone Walker’s is. Walker is a little bit more of a finesse player. I mean Lawrence is the whole package. He’s a top three D-tackle in the NFL. I don’t think positional fit matters with Walker because I think he’s a guy you’re going to move around anyway. You can put him over the tackle. You can put him in the A-gap. I’ll tell you right now, when they do put him head-up on a center, it’s the center’s worst nightmare. They don’t stand a chance when he’s inside. It’s going to be interesting to see where Walker’s development goes.

“A little bit like (Tennessee defensive lineman) James Pearce where you go, ‘I just need a little more polish and definitely a little more lower body strength.’ But man oh man, you talk about a playmaker at just an absolute freakish size. There are just not many that are made like Deone Walker. There’s going to be a team that goes like, ‘This is the freak show we need in the middle of our defense that will change the whole thing.’”

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