The Jacksonville Jaguars will need to fill several voids on defense in the NFL Draft if they want to keep up in the AFC arms race next season. It would also help if a handful of prominent players took a big step. Travon Walker is one of them.
While Walker hasn't been bad, he hasn't been outright dominant like fellow 2022 draft pick Aidan Hutchinson has been. Nevertheless, the Jags are confident that the Thomaston, Georgia native can also be a game-changer. And just recently, head coach Liam Coen explained how he can become one.
Jaguars HC Liam Coen wants Travon Walker to practice like Aaron Donald
Liam Coen met with reporters during the NFL Owners meeting and said that he expects Travon Walker to take his game to the next level, pointing out that he wants him to dominate practice the way Aaron Donald did.
"I haven't personally seen that. I'm sure those are natural, I guess you can call them comparisons, but I don't know," Coen told reporters when asked about Walker being compared to Aidan Hutchinson (28:55 mark). "My conversations with him one-on-one, I've never heard him bring it up or say, 'I'm not living up to, or I need to do this because of status.' Travon, I had an almost two-hour meeting with him at the end of the season, just what that looked like in terms of dominating."
Coen continued, "I was with Aaron Donald in LA, and we literally had to take him out of practice in order for us to gain yards on offense. If you want to get where you want to go, and where we want you to go, and where you can go, I need to be taking you out of practice, so that we can operate on offense. I want that kind of destruction and mindset and mentality. And he was on the same page about it."
However you looked at it, that's a lofty comparison. Coen knows it, which is why he made it clear he wanted Walker to be like Donald in terms of habits, not the skill set, traits, or anything of that sort.
"Habits, habits... that was what I was teaching him, his habits. Not talent, not anything about their length and size, and anything that way. It's just habits, elite habits, elite practice, preparation, game preparation. Those habits and the way you practice on a day-to-day basis, I'd better be taking you out of the practice for us to operate. You should disrupt the entire thing in order for us to operate. I want that. So it's all about habits, not about the player," Coen said.
For context, Coen was an offensive assistant for the Los Angeles Rams from 2018 to 2020 and later served as their offensive coordinator in 2022. During their two stints in the City of Angels, he had to face Donald in practice, which made his job substantially more difficult.
During his 10-year stint with the Rams, Donald racked up 111 sacks, made the Pro Bowl every season, and earned eight All-Pro designations. It's fair to say that he had success not only because of talent alone but also elite habits, as Coen pointed out. And if Walker wants to take his game to the next level, he'll have to put in the work.
The Jaguars need Travon Walker to break out in 2026
Although Travon Walker routinely flashed his potential at Georgia, he was a project coming out of college. Compounding the issue is that the Jaguars moved him to standup linebacker after drafting him first overall in 2022. Two years later, they replaced defensive coordinator Mike Calwell with Ryan Nielsen.
With Nielsen, Walker returned to his more familiar three-point stance. Then, Anthony Campanile took over the defense in 2025, and the former Bulldog was expected to take a leap. Instead, he was hindered by injuries.
Now, Walker enters a contract year, and he'll need to put it all together if he wants to cash in. The fact that the Jacksonville brass has already begun contract talks with him shows that the team is high on him.
It will be up to him to repay that trust. Developing elite habits like Aaron Donald could certainly help him.