Green Bay Packers 2022 first-round pick, linebacker Quay Walker, had a very solid rookie season. His stats were impressive as he led the team with 121 total tackles, five tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and seven passes defended. But, the only thing anyone remembers from his rookie campaign is that he was ejected from a game twice.
Walker is the first player since 2000 to be ejected from two separate games during the regular season. In the game on October 30th, he was ejected for shoving a member of the Buffalo Bills practice squad on the sidelines. In the season finale against the Detroit Lions, Walker shoved someone from the team’s training staff who was coming out to tend to an injured player.
Neither event led to a suspension for Walker, but he has spent the entire offseason thinking about those ejections. Looking to avoid a repeat of that, the Georgia product revealed that he has spent making an effort to help control his emotions in the heat of the moment.
“To be honest with you, this entire offseason I thought about the two ejections,” Walker said Saturday at Packers training camp. “It was hard giving myself grace on that, but at the same time, I’ve moved past it. The past is the past, and I’m just ready to move forward and just learn from it. Of course I can say that, but I have to do it by my actions. So I’m just ready to go from there.”
Following the incident against the Lions, Walker made multiple apologies. They came on social media and to reporters during interviews as he knew that he made a mistake. He admitted that he knew he had to “work on controlling my emotions,” as they could end up costing him and the Packers.
One of the ways that he has been looking to improve himself this offseason is by working with the Packers’ director of performance psychology/behavioral health clinician, Dr. Chris Carr.
“I just talked to myself, meditating as well, talking to Dr. Carr, just being more open, just going from there,” Walker said. “I was a person that was real, real closed in, with all my thoughts and everything like that, with the stuff I had going on, but that ain’t really got anything to do with what took place. But those were the things I did over the offseason to prepare me to not make those same mistakes over again.”
The Packers have big plans for Walker in the 2023 season. He has shown the ability to be a versatile player for them. Already a solid player in pass coverage, and they are hopeful that he can take that next step as a run defender in Year 2.
