TAMPA — Buccaneers defensive end David Walker, who missed his entire rookie season with a training camp ACL tear, is healthy and pushing for a rotation spot in a Tampa Bay edge rush group that Head Coach Todd Bowles overhauled this offseason after the unit produced just 37 sacks in 2025 — the franchise’s lowest full-season total since 2018.
The Buccaneers blitzed on 35.0% of their pass rush snaps last season, the third-highest rate in the NFL, yet converted only 14.7% of their pressures into sacks, the third-lowest mark in the league. That combination — heavy blitzing with poor finishing — drove Tampa Bay to invest in a front four that could win without extra rushers. The club signed former Lion Al-Quadin Muhammad in free agency and used the 15th overall pick on Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr., who joins returning sack leader Yaya Diaby in a rebuilt rotation.
“Just get off — that’s how we talk in the whole D-Line Room, that the number one thing is, ‘Four Equals One,’” Walker said after minicamp. “If we’re all rushing together, nobody can be wrong. So that’s something I picked up: just rush. Do your job first and the other things are second.”
Walker, a fourth-round pick out of Central Arkansas in 2025, had been turning heads in practice before the ACL tear shelved him for the year. At the collegiate level he amassed 39.0 sacks and 82.5 tackles for loss across three seasons. Bowles noted this week that Walker has started to look very much like the player who impressed last spring and summer.
“Yeah, I feel good,” Walker said after the final minicamp practice. “When you get back to doing certain movements, ‘Okay, I can trust that a little bit,’ and it just progressed and progressed. And the staff man, the training staff, did a really good job of tending to my knees, and when it’s hurting to back off a little bit.”
Walker acknowledged the depth chart is crowded. Beyond Muhammad, Bain and Diaby, the edge group includes holdovers Anthony Nelson, Chris Braswell and Mohamed Kamara plus undrafted rookies Yasir Holmes and Jack Pyburn.
“I love competition,” Walker said. “I feel like that’s what’s going to make us better, just competing against each other. The coach is going to play who’s showing the most production. I’m just here to do my part, if that’s special teams or whatever. If he feels like I deserve to be in, he’ll put me in.”
Walker said the revamped unit is eager to prove it can pressure quarterbacks without relying on extra blitzers. “We’re excited to rush,” he said. “Bowles, he’s going to put trust in us. He’s going to let us do our thing and I’m excited for y’all to see it.” The Buccaneers are scheduled to open training camp in late July at their Tampa headquarters.