Travon Walker has not racked up gaudy numbers since the Jaguars took him with the first overall pick in the 2022 draft, but that didn’t stop Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin from singling the linebacker out during a Tuesday press conference.
Josh Allen leads the Jaguars with seven sacks over the first seven games of the season while Walker has posted 2.5 sacks while playing opposite of him. Tomlin said that sack totals don’t tell the whole story of Walker’s impact while saying that the Steelers are going to have to be sharp when it comes to handling both players.
“We’ve got to do a really good job of managing their bigs,” Tomlin said, via John Shipley of SI.com. “The edge guys really capture your attention. Josh Allen and Walker, in particular as a tandem, wreak a lot of havoc. I think often times sacks don’t represent the havoc that Walker causes. I felt that way in an analysis of him leading up to the draft. He’s just a guy who wrecks a lot of things. He plays with a violent play-style. He’s a wrecking ball.”
Tomlin also talked about the need for the Steelers to do “routine things routinely” in order to get their offense on track, but that won’t happen if they can’t keep Walker from being a wrecking ball this Sunday.