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This move certainly won't grab many national headlines, but the Detroit Lions have signed defensive tackle Tyrunn Walker to a one-year deal. According to Mike Garafolo, Walker's contract is worth $1.75 million and includes a $750,000 signing bonus.
So, who exactly is Walker? He entered the NFL in 2012 as an undrafted free agent out of Tulsa, and he spent his first three seasons in the league with the New Orleans Saints. He was actually supposed to be a restricted free agent this offseason, but the Saints declined to tender him, and that is a move they may end up regretting.
Think Tyrunn Walker has potential to do more than did with #Saints. Letting him go was probably even more cap casualty than some of the vets
— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) March 13, 2015
Tyrunn Walker was by far the Saints' best interior pass rusher. Very good rotational player inside.
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) March 13, 2015
Walker's stats don't exactly jump off the page. He has only appeared in 23 total games, and he's only made one career start. What's more, he only has 28 career tackles and 3.5 career sacks. However, it's important to note that he didn't exactly have a huge workload in New Orleans:
Tyrunn Walker had a +8.0 PFF Grade on 306 snaps. 2nd highest among all #Saints D-linemen.
— Alex Reno (@alex_reno) March 13, 2015
Tyrunn Walker looks like an effective pass-rushing interior lineman. PFF credited him with 18 QB hurries on just 197 pass-rush snaps.
— Justin Rogers (@Justin_Rogers) March 13, 2015
In other words, the Lions are hoping that with an increased workload in Detroit, Walker will really be able to take his game to another level. I was originally going to say that the Lions are hoping to have found a hidden gem, but it doesn't sound like Walker was all that "hidden."
You’ve probably never heard of new Lions DL Tyrunn Walker. I hadn’t either. The amount of interest by smart personnel people was staggering
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 13, 2015
I'm not exactly sure what role Walker will play in Detroit or if he will be a starter or backup, but the Lions finally have some extra depth at defensive tackle.