David Walker: Bucs’ rookie out for the season with a torn ACL

July 29, 2025: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have to wait to see their prospective fourth-round pick play. On Monday, head coach Todd Bowles said that rookie outside linebacker David Walker tore his ACL during practice on Friday and would need surgery to fix it, which will end his 2025 season. He will be put on the injured reserve list.

Bowles said, “He was having a big effect early on.” “We were obviously counting on him to do a lot of things, but other people will have to step up.” He ought to think of this as a redshirt year, I told him. That’s too bad. It didn’t seem like it was too much on film, but it turned out to be.

Also Read: Bubba Wallace wins the Brickyard 400 in the NASCAR Cup Series!

Walker, who the Buccaneers picked 121st overall out of Central Arkansas, had a great offseason, including OTAs and minicamp. He was supposed to be a big part of the team’s edge rush rotation. The Bucs signed Haason Reddick in free agency and drafted Walker this offseason to help their edge pressure. In 2024, interior lineman Calijah Kancey (7.5 sacks) and Vita Vea (7.0 sacks) led the club in sacks.

Walker had a great college career, with one year at Southern Arkansas and three at Central Arkansas. He had 39.0 sacks, 82.5 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles, and eight passes defended. He was selected a consensus All-American all three years he was at Central Arkansas and the United Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in both 2023 and 2024.

Even though they had a setback, the Buccaneers still have a formidable top-four edge rush rotation in Reddick, Yaya Diaby, Chris Braswell, and Anthony Nelson. But without Walker, players like Markees Watts and Jose Ramirez might have a chance to shine.