2024 Dynasty Rookie Early Look: Devontez Walker, WR North Carolina
The depth at the wide receiver position entering the 2024 NFL draft has been widely reported and covered. There are obviously the big names at the top, but the depth is really bolstered by players like Devontez Walker out of North Carolina. Walker has endured a more unique college experience than most potential pro prospects and finds himself as one of the more polarizing players leading up to April’s draft.
Recruitment
Walker took an incredibly long, and difficult, journey to get to where he is now. During his senior season in West Charlotte, NC the three-star WR had 91 catches for 1,153 yards. During the spring he signed with East Tennessee State University to play football during the 2019 season. However, in the summer before he was supposed to enroll at ETSU, he tore his ACL, and his future with the school was up in the air.
ETSU said they would allow Walker to “gray shirt” which meant he would delay joining the team until the following Spring of 2020 when he was finally healthy. This also meant he couldn’t start school in the fall like a typical college student and instead had to stay home and rehab. To pay for the rehab and subsequent training, Walker had to get a job at a local Bojangles.
During this time of rehab during the fall of 2019, Walker was offered a chance to play again at North Carolina Central for the following 2020 season. However, things just kept getting more difficult for Walker once he finally stepped foot on a college campus.
Courtesy of 247 Sports.
College Career
Walker’s recruiting was hard, but college was more of the same. We all know what happened in the spring of 2020. COVID-19 threw a wrench in every team’s plans and North Carolina Central was forced to cancel the 2020 football season and Walker went another fall without playing. He practiced a few times in the spring of 2021, and he played in North Carolina Central’s spring game, but Walker felt like he could play at a higher level.
So he entered the transfer portal.
Courtesy of Sports Reference.
Walker ended up at Kent State where he endured a rocky 2021. He was two years removed from an ACL injury and yet to play another meaningful snap of football so there were growing pains during what was essentially his freshman season. However, everything clicked in 2022 when he accumulated 58 catches for 921 yards and 11 touchdowns. One of his best games of the season came against Georgia, where he finished the day with seven catches, 106 yards, and a touchdown.
Following the 2022 season, there was a mass exodus from Kent State with head coach Sean Lewis’s departure. So Walker entered the transfer portal again and the only place he wanted to go was North Carolina so he could be closer to his family. Following his transfer to UNC, the NCAA changed its rule on multi-time transfers, and North Carolina was forced to submit multiple relief waivers requesting that Walker be allowed to play.
Devontez Walker’s story made national headlines throughout the first month of the season as the NCAA drug their feet in their decision-making and ultimately cost Walker the first four games of his season. The NCAA ultimately reversed course and allowed him to play the final eight games.
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
During those eight games at UNC this season, Walker had 41 catches for 699 yards and seven touchdowns. Extrapolating a small sample size isn’t always smart, but I think it works for Walker’s situation. Those numbers translate to a full season of 62 catches for 1,050 yards and 11 touchdowns which would have been a tremendous final college campaign.
Strengths
- High-end top speed that allows him to be an immediate deep threat
- Excellent ball skills and shown the ability to track the ball in the air and make adjustments on the fly
- Above average size and showed a vast improvement in contested situations in 2023
- Can make plays with the ball in his hands and after the catch
Weaknesses
- Not always pretty at the line of scrimmage and against press
- Needs to develop a full route tree and was mostly used on deep routes
- While incredibly fast, his short-area movement needs improvement and is a major contributor to the two above weaknesses
- Will be 23 years old this summer and is one of the older players in the class
Draft Value
Courtesy of Mock Draft Database.
Despite the concerns about his path to get here, his injury, his age, and his limitations as a route runner, Devontez Walker is still currently being mocked at the end of the second round due to his size, speed, and ability to scare defenses as a vertical threat.
Few players possess his raw, athletic ability and NFL teams will covet those while believing in their ability to help Walker improve in the more nuanced aspects of the WR position.
Dynasty Outlook
I think Walker will end up being one of the more polarizing dynasty prospects of the entire draft class. There are very clear pros and cons. He’s super athletic, fast, and flashes high-end talent, but he’s also inconsistent and nearly 23 years old while only playing eight games of Power 5 football.
According to DLF’s rookie rankings, Walker finds himself as the WR10 but his individual ranking ranges between 9th and 16th. Right now he’s going at the end of the second round of rookie mock drafts and I think that’s about right. However, Walker can fly up boards after the combine, an event he will surely dominate with his speed and athleticism. By the time rookie drafts roll around, he could easily find himself at the beginning of the second round.
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.02 - April 22, 2024
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.06 - April 18, 2024
- Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Profile: Devontez Walker, WR South Carolina - April 17, 2024
