The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be without first-round rookie Rueben Bain for their Week 3 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. While the injury is disappointing, it opens the door for second-year edge rusher David Walker to become a potential bright spot for a defense looking for positivity.
Scott Reynolds of Pewter Report noted that Walker could develop much faster in Week 3.
“With Rueben Bain Jr. expected to miss the Vikings game, Walker will get more snaps, which will only aid his rapid development,” wrote Reynolds.
Walker did not play on defense in Week 1, but played nine snaps in Week 2. He recorded a sack on one of his six pass rush attempts.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Could Have Secret Weapon With Rueban Bain Out
Head coach Todd Bowles admitted that Walker is coming along at a solid pace. However, he is not quite ready to unleash Walker.
“Sack was great,” admitted Bowles on the first NFL snaps Walker saw on defense. “He’s got some things he’s got to learn fundamentally from a defensive standpoint, but he’s come along at a pretty good pace.”
Bowles made it clear that he will remain behind Al-Quadin Muhammad, Yaya Diaby, and Anthony Nelson when it comes to the edge rusher rotation.
Still, through two weeks, Bain has 76 snaps, Diaby has 72 snaps, Muhammad has 44 snaps, and Nelson has 37 snaps. Then, Walker has nine snaps. So, Muhammad will likely go from part-time to more of a full workload. Then, Walker will slide into around 20 snaps per game, which is a nice increase.
David Walker Has Room to Grow With Buccaneers
Walker is a former fourth-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft. However, he tore his ACL early in training camp. He did not take a preseason snap or see the NFL field at all in his rookie season.
So, this is essentially his rookie season. Walker hit the ground running, though. He was a star in training camp and translated that into a strong preseason.
He played 57 snaps and had 32 pass-rush snaps. Walker recorded seven pressures in the preseason. He also had two run stops on 21 run-defense snaps.
While he did not play at all in Week 1, it seems hard for the Bucs to keep him contained now. He recorded a sack in Week 2 and is going to get a bigger role in Week 3. The timeline of when Bain will return from his injury is undetermined.
However, right now there is a good chance Walker will have earned some sort of role by the time Bain returns. The question will be whether he can cut into the snaps of Muhammad or Nelson between now and the time that Bain returns.
Bucs Could Unleash Secret Weapon After Bain Injury