Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Profile: Devontez Walker, WR South Carolina
Devontez Walker is no stranger to adversity. An ACL injury derailed his college recruitment, COVID-19 delayed his first college snaps, and a legal issue cost him four games of his final year at North Carolina. Even with all those hurdles, Walker was able to put together an impressive college career and show NFL scouts he’s a prospect worth taking a chance on.
After some struggles during the pre-draft process, will he be able to once again battle back and find a home in the NFL and on dynasty rosters? Let’s find out.
The Stats
Walker’s college career was littered with challenges. An injury late in his high school career derailed his recruitment and he ended up at North Carolina Central. Then, 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.
Walker’s story made national headlines throughout the first month of the season as the NCAA dragged its feet in its decision-making and ultimately cost Walker the first four games of his season. The NCAA ultimately reversed course and allowed Walker to play the final eight games of the season.
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 season.
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
Walker has produced tremendous stats in some very small sample sizes during his final two years of college football. For his career, Walker recorded a 2.52 yards per route run mark, which is one of the highest in the class. The biggest issue with Walker is something that will come up a few times during this profile; he struggles catching the football. He had a career 8.8% dropped pass rate which is approaching concerning territory. He did nothing to squash those concerns during the pre-draft process when he had multiple drops at the senior bowl and the NFL combine.
The Film
I think this is the perfect representation of Walker’s game and showcases the pros and cons of what he does on the football field. The most obvious thing you notice is Walker’s ability to win down the field against one-on-one coverage. On four or five separate occasions Walker gets multiple steps of separation down the sideline with his elite athleticism and speed. His ability to stretch the field will be coveted by NFL teams similar to what Will Fuller did for the Houston Texans.
However, it also shows some of the limitations of his game. While Walker won a lot on go routes, it was the only way he was able to gain consistent separation. His route tree is very limited; in this game and throughout the season he ran sticks and nine routes almost exclusively with a few crossing routes mixed in as well. His limited route tree comes from a lack of experience and some inconsistency in his footwork which prevents him from winning in a multitude of different ways.
Finally, we see a couple of drops from Walker in this game. While they may be some of the more difficult potential catches that were charted as drops, it still reinforces the idea that he struggles to haul more difficult passes in, especially when he’s in contested situations.
The Measurables
Courtesy of Relative Athletic Score.
Even though Walker struggled at the combine with the on-field drills and catching the football, he put on a show during the athletic testing. His 4.36-second 40-yard dash was the fourth best time in the entire class and in the 97th percentile for all WRs in combine history.
Walker also dominated the explosive testing events. His 40.5-inch vertical jump and 11’2’’ broad jump were both 97th percentile or better for all WRs as well. His 9.76 RAS score was the sixth best in the entire class.
His worst time was in the shuttle at 5.29 seconds. This isn’t surprising at all based on what we see in the film with his route running and getting off the line of scrimmage.
The Value
Courtesy of Mock Draft Database.
Due to Walker’s recent struggles during this process, we’ve seen his expected draft ranking plummet in mock drafts. At the end of January, he was locked in as a mid-second-round draft pick with many draft analysts touting him as a potential sleeper to sneak into the end of the first round.
Two and a half months later his stock plummeted to the middle of the third round. With so many other WRs in this range moving up draft boards, I don’t think it’s a guarantee that Walker will hear his name called on day two of the NFL draft anymore.
Courtesy of DLF’s April Superflex Rookie ADP.
Walker is currently going as the 3.12 in Superflex rookie drafts based on DLF’s April Rookie ADP and is valued as the WR17. Again, this is a massive fall from grace for Walker but based on his performance over the last few months it makes sense.
The Outlook
Devontez Walker is a tough player to project a week before the NFL draft. He’s by far the biggest faller during the pre-draft process of any dynasty fantasy football-relevant player in this draft class. If he falls all the way into the third day of the NFL Draft then I think he’ll be available in the fourth round of rookie drafts.
However, I still think some NFL teams will be intrigued by his athleticism and raw skill and believe they can develop him into something special. There are exciting aspects of Walker’s game if you can get by the drops and the limited route running.
I was a big Walker fan all season and was expecting him to dominate the pre-draft process with his athleticism but the drops are tough to overcome when your main job is to catch the football. Even though there are some red flags, I just can’t quit the idea of Walker’s upside. As long as he gets selected on the second day of the draft, I’ll be heavily targeting Walker at the end of the third round of rookie drafts this off-season.
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