On February 14, SI.com’s All Lions’ Christian Booher also mentioned Walker as a cut candidate for the Lions.
“[Walker] was relegated to a bench and special teams role and later a healthy scratch at the end of last season,” Boogers wrote. “He started six games this season but the team moved on to Ifeatu Melifonwu late in the year, and Melifonwu made a compelling case to be a starter in the secondary next season.”
In six starts, Walker posted 34 combined tackles and 2 pass defenses. For the entire season, Walker registered a 62.8 Pro Football Focus player grade.
That was ranked 66th out of 104 safeties who played at least 20% of his team’s defensive snaps in 2023.
Walker’s replacement in the starting lineup, Ifeatu Melifonwu, posted 26 combined tackles in the final five regular season games. Melifonwu also had 3 tackles for loss, 5 quarterback hits, 3 sacks and 2 interceptions in that five-game stretch.
Then in the postseason, Melifonwu recorded 16 combined tackles, 3 quarterback hits and 2 sacks.
As Okada wrote, the Lions are in a strong cap situation. According to Spotrac, they possess more than $48 million in cap space.
But the Lions have needs at edge rusher, cornerback and guard this offseason. Furthermore, they likely want to offer contract extensions to quarterback Jared Goff, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and potentially others.
