Buffalo Bills believe Deone Walker is 'steal of the draft,' says Vince Marrow

Deone Walker was a consensus preseason All-American and potential first-round pick entering his third and final season at Kentucky, coming off a dominant sophomore campaign that saw him earn First Team All-SEC honors, racking up 55 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 8.0 QB hurries, 7.5 sacks and two PBUs. Standing 6-7, 345 pounds, a guy his size shouldn’t have been able to move as well as he did — and NFL teams were drooling over the possibility of selecting him the second he was draft-eligible in 2025.

Named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy, Bronko Nagurski, Outland, Chuck Bednarik, Lombardi Award and Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch Lists going into 2024, Walker’s on-field production did not live up to the hype, finishing with 37 tackles, 5.0 TFL, two PBUs, 1.5 sacks and one fumble recovery in 11 games. He certainly wasn’t bad, but he just wasn’t the game-wrecking freak-of-nature talent he was trending toward becoming after his first couple of seasons in Lexington.

That’s how the Buffalo Bills got the ‘steal of the draft’ in the fourth round at No. 109 overall, they believe — with Vince Marrow telling the story.

We know how night one went in Green Bay, Maxwell Hairston coming off the board at No. 30 overall by the Bills, joining fellow Kentucky alum Ray Davis in Buffalo. There was real familiarity there — “a lot of their players have come out of (Kentucky) pro-ready, and not just DBs,” GM Brandon Beane said after drafting Hairston — and the Big Dawg felt early on Walker could be joining them in the AFC East.

Then they drafted South Carolina defensive tackle T.J. Sanders, seemingly throwing the whole plan off — or so they thought.

“This is a true story. So after Max (Hairston) got drafted, the one guy for the Bills who loved Deone — I was texting Deone’s mom, I said, ‘I think Deone is going to go to Buffalo, maybe second or third round, because I know they’re gonna draft a defensive tackle.’ Deone texts me — I’m still in Milwaukee — he puts ‘(LOL), they lied. They took the kid from South Carolina in the second round.’ I said, ‘Wow, okay, maybe not,'” Marrow said on this week’s edition of WLAP’s Sunday Morning Sports Talk.

“Then the same guy Saturday morning, he texted me as I was getting on the plane. He said, ‘How’s big fella holding up?’ I said, ‘He’s doing good.’ He said, ‘Send me his number.’ I’m like, maybe he’s going to text him some words of encouragement or something. I’m about to take off, and as soon I land, they said Deone was drafted by the Bills? I was like, wow.”

Walker’s slide led to Buffalo’s excitement, shocked to see him available when he was in the fourth round, not hesitating to snag the former Wildcat to make it three. Part of the reason he fell was injury-related — also factoring into his dip in production — the 6-7 defensive tackle playing his junior season with a fracture in his back, sharing that news at Kentucky’s Pro Day in March.

That ‘healed itself up,’ as Walker described it. “Now, I only gotta do PT to keep it right,” he added.

Any other adjustments to life in the NFL on or off the field, he’ll have a support system around him to help make his life easier and hold him accountable to ensure he reaches his sky-high potential as a pro.

“(The Bills staffer) said to me, Maxwell and Ray being there, they can keep their foot on Deone’s you-know-what,” Marrow said. “He said, ‘We believe he is the steal of the draft.’ And I believe that too. I tried to tell guys the young man was hurt. He really, really — if he would have sat out, everybody would be saying, ‘he don’t do this, don’t do that.’ Most guys would have sat out a couple of games, just to get his back right. He played because he really did believe in the team and he wanted to be out there with his teammates.

“But I really do believe he has a chance to be the steal of the draft. I really believe that. It might be like when Chris Jones went from Mississippi State — he was supposed to be a first rounder (in 2016). He went late second, and you see what he’s been doing. I think Deone has a chance to do that.”

With the injury behind him, Walker has a chip on his shoulder to not only get back to the surefire first-round talent he was as a sophomore at Kentucky, but better. The newest Bill believes he can do that, Marrow believes he can do that and Walker’s new team believes he can do that.

Now it’s just about getting there and getting his journey started.

“Deone is very motivated. You watch his sophomore tape, and he was probably a top-10 or top-15 guy,” Marrow said. “When you play sports and your back or hamstring is really bothering you, it can really hurt your performance — especially at the position he plays. He needs all of his lower extremities. I’m just telling you, this young man’s going to be the steal of the draft. … When Deone Walker is healthy, he’s probably the best defensive tackle in the country. Buffalo knows that. …

“I told him, ‘You’re going to a great place.’ I showed him what the guy texted me. He said, ‘100 percent, Coach. Just watch.'”