Much of last offseason’s discussion centered around the Bucs needing to add a premier pass rusher.

Turns out, they already had one on the roster waiting to be unleashed.

Outside linebacker David Walker has proved that his dominant training camp was legit. Over six games, Walker has a team-leading four sacks on limited playing time and is coming off his best game yet, with seven tackles and two sacks in Week 6 against the Steelers.

Despite his performance and clear pass-rushing ability, he has played only 99 defensive snaps all season, just 26% of the unit’s total. He has earned more looks, and head coach Todd Bowles revealed his plan to get him more involved during his press conference on Monday.

Todd Bowles Wants More David Walker, But “Sometimes It Doesn’t Work Out That Way”

Sitting at 1-5, nothing has really gone right for this Todd Bowles-led Bucs team.

Yet, David Walker’s emergence is one of the biggest bright spots. When asked about increasing Walker’s playing time, it seemed like a chance for Bowles to provide an easy response about increasing his workload and getting him on the field more going forward.

Bucs OLB David Walker and Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Instead, Tampa Bay’s defensive play caller made like that would be a difficult task.

“Yeah, game plan-wise, we ramp it up every week – he’s been playing that well,” Bowles said about Walker’s usage. “We give him the plays we can give him, but it’s been ramped up every week. Depending on the game plan and what the other team does and personnel-wise, you want to see him get more reps in there. We intend to do that, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way depending on the game.”

Huh?

The first part of Bowles’ response made sense. After choosing not to play Walker in Week 1, he received nine defensive snaps in Week 2 and 19 snaps in Week 3. The second-year pass rusher responded with sacks in each game. He has played between 31.7% and 40% of the snaps over the past four weeks, despite the results speaking for themselves.

Bowles is stubborn when making personnel decisions, but the move to rotate Walker in more isn’t rocket scrience.

Based on his play this season, he is undisputedly Tampa Bay’s best pass rusher.

As noted above by Mike Renner, Walker’s league-leading 26.3% pass-rush rate is no fluke. PFF also has him ranked as the seventh-best edge rusher with an 82.6 overall grade. It was encouraging to see him play a season-high 28 snaps against the Steelers, which put him third behind Yaya Diaby and Rueben Bain Jr.

He has remained fresh and ready to attack the quarterback when he does play, but he looks far better than Diaby, who has plateaued in a contract year and has not recorded a sack in 2026. An outside linebacker rotation led by Bain and Walker makes the most sense, but Bowles is committed to keeping things package specific.

“Depending on the package,” Bowles said. “He was third in that package rotation [against Green Bay]. There are different rotations where guys’ reps get amped up a little bit.”

It remains to be seen what that means for Walker, but it is difficult to know just how good he could be without letting him get more action. He sparked a five-sack performance by Tampa Bay’s defense against Pittsburgh, and it’s hard to argue with his results.

David Walker Reacts To His 2-Sack Game

After David Walker delivered one of the Bucs’ most impressive performances in Week 6, he reacted humbly to his two-sack day in the locker room.

“Just making the most of the opportunities,” Walker said. “Coach [Todd Bowles] is putting us in the right position and I’m just trying to win my one-on-ones whenever I get in. And the team, as a D-Line, we just work together. We call it four equals one and that’s what’s been giving us all success.”

“Four equals one” is a common message shared among the defense, with Bowles stating before the season that he wanted more from the four-man pass rush. It is hard to say Tampa Bay’s defensive front has delivered on that promise, especially as Rueben Bain Jr. and Al-Quadin Muhammad just had their first sacks and Yaya Diaby, Vita Vea, and Calijah Kancey are each without sacks. Even applying consistent pressure was hard to come by before the most recent game.

Bucs OLBs Rueben Bain Jr. and David Walker – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Laying that foundation will be one of the only things that will keep the Bucs competitive, as they have a lot of work to do to if they want to get back in the race to win the NFC South. Divisional games are the only saving grace moving forward, but Walker still has hope.

“It’s adversity,” Walker said about the team’s poor start. “Take it out of football, [you face] adversity every day in your life. It’s about who is going to show up. Like I said, these guys in the room are the guys we are going to battle with. We’ve got to lean on each other. The season is long – we’ve got 12 more. We’ve just got to prove ourselves right.”

David Walker has showed up, but it is up to Todd Bowles to reward his production. Bowles has his hands full in a last-ditch effort to turn the season around. Giving Walker more snaps is one of the easier decisions on his plate.