The Jacksonville Jaguars reaped massive rewards from Trevor Lawrence making a huge leap in 2022. After leading the league in interceptions during his rookie season, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft was a Pro Bowler in his second year, finishing with 25 touchdown passes and eight interceptions.
Now the Jaguars are hoping they’ll get the same kind of improvement out of the player they took at the top of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Travon Walker finished his rookie year with 3.5 sacks and Jaguars coach Doug Pederson expects to see more in year two.
“Just like Trevor, we can only go up, right?” Pederson told John Oehser of Jaguars.com earlier this week. “He can be a really dominant impact player for us, and this will be a good plus: He’ll have an offseason to kind of rest, too. This time last year, he was going with [pre-draft] visits and the [NFL Scouting] Combine.
“Now he’s had a chance to kind of recover, heal, get back in the weight room and start working on his craft.”
Earlier this week, Pederson said it’s “vital” that the Jaguars improve their pass rush in 2023. After losing Arden Key in free agency, Jacksonville will likely look to add a player or two to bolster that group. But nothing would be more helpful than Walker taking a significant step forward.
The Jaguars finished the 2022 season 26th in sacks with 35. Josh Allen led the team with seven sacks and Dawuane Smoot — who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in Week 16 — was second with five sacks.
