With the 109th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills select Deone “D-1” Walker, DT-Kentucky. The divisive DT definitely fills a large need in the Bills’ Defense, with a grand emphasis on large. Coming in at 6’7 345 lbs, Deone fits the bill as a true nose tackle who can eat up double teams, freeing up the other DLs to execute against single matchups.
The scary thing is… he could get even bigger! Joe Marino of Locked On Bills pointed out that despite his size, his lower half is disproportionately smaller than his upper body. So he could undergo some body recomposition, perhaps losing some bad weight, gaining some good weight and still maintain his space eating size.
Early Life and High School Career
Hailing from Detroit originally, Deone attended Cass Technical and played basketball and football, while in his senior year, he played at both DT and OT. He was honored with a 1st Team All-State selection after posting 43 tackles, including 15 tackles for loss and 6 sacks in only 7 games played. This success led to him being a 4-star recruit and being offered by no less than 35 colleges, including Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, and Mizzou, before finally committing to the University of Kentucky.
College Career
Two players from Kentucky have been drafted in the 2025 draft at the time of writing this article, and the Bills have selected both of them. Mad Max and D-1 will both be calling Buffalo their new home away from home.
In his freshman year at Kentucky, D-1 recorded 40 tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss, and 5 quarterback hurries, playing in 13 games and starting 11 of them. The SEC loved him as he earned plenty of conference awards in his first year.
As a sophomore, he was selected to serve as team captain. With his size, he was almost always double-teamed, but he was still able to beat the double teams often enough to lead the team in tackles for loss with 12.5, sacks with 7.5, and hurries with 8. He also had 55 total tackles and broke up 2 passes.
In his final year as a junior, he got a little nicked up, missing one game, but his performance seemed to suffer because of it. He was still productive, logging 35 tackles, 5 TFLs, 2 passes defended, 1.5 sacks, and a rumble recovery.
He started in 35 straight games in 3 seasons, totalling 132 tackles, 22 TFLs, and 10 sacks.
He went to the combine and the Senior Bowl, where the only thing he excelled at was being gigantic. He is at the:
- 100th percentile for height
- 95th percentile for weight, where he only weighed in at 331
- Wingspan in the 97th percentile at 84.5 inches
- His hands are also huge at 10 5/8 inches.
Now, his other measurements were underwhelming with:
- a slow 5.28 forty,
- a 25 inch vert,
- a 104 inch broad jump
- and only 22 reps of 225 pounds in the benchpress, though the last test shouldn’t be that big of a surprise as the 225 pounds had to travel 34 inches away from his body. Dudes with long levers tend to struggle more with bench than stubby guys, and I’d wager he’d be amazing in a deadlift.
What He Brings to the Bills
D-1 brings obviously size, but also a penchant for interior pressure that is apparently the theme of this draft. Patrick Mahomes better give his OLine some amazing gifts, because they’ll have their work cut out for them. Despite the smoke screen Beane threw up after his Day 2 presser, where he insinuated that DeWayne Carter was the backup 1-tech, he packaged a 2-1 trade, seeing them move up to select the heir apparent at 1 technique.
The big question for me is, will Daquan Jones hold onto his role as the first on the field next to Ed Oliver, with D-1 coming in on rushing downs, or will D-1 supplant the long time starter at the top spot. What if a team begins to spam the tush-push? Just imagine if you will on an obvious rushing down, Michael Hoecht at edge, D-1 at 1-tech, Daquan Jones at 3-tech, and T.J. Sanders at the other edge. The versatility of this DL is staggering to consider, with almost each of the above players having experience in dropping back into coverage when asked to. Even to have the possibility is incredible.
Just don’t challenge them to a game of 5-5 pick-up basketball.