Walker’s impact big as life
Bills’ tackle solidifies O-line
It’s no surprise that switching back and forth from right to left tackle in Sunday’s game at Jacksonville was more challenging from a physical standpoint than a mental one for Buffalo Bills lineman Langston Walker.
After all, this is a guy who graduated from the University of California with a degree in economics. This is a guy who informed a handful of reporters after practice Wednesday that AIG’s stock had dropped below $2.50 a share.
“It was physical out there,” Walker said. “It was hot. And there’s no amount of yoga or tantric thinking that could get you out of the mind-set that it was about 100 degrees out there on the field.”
Tantric thinking? Top that one, Stanford graduate Trent Edwards.
Walker’s versatility has been a huge asset for the Bills the first two games, and it’s the latest example of what a pleasant surprise Walker has been since joining the Bills as a free agent in March 2007.
Skepticism reigned on the West Coast when the Bills signed Walker away from the Oakland Raiders last year with a contract worth $5 million a year. The Raiders had allowed an NFL-worst 72 sacks in 2006 and gone 2-14.
The Bills’ scouts looked beyond those numbers and saw a massive 6-foot-8, 366-pounder who was light on his feet for his size.
Walker solidified the right tackle position last season, playing all 16 games. He allowed only two sacks by unofficial count and provided a physical presence for the Bills’ running game.
He enters Sunday’s home game — against his old team, the Raiders — as a valued member of what is considered one of Buffalo’s strong units, the offensive line.
“Langston has done an excellent job for us,” Bills offensive line coach Sean Kugler said. “He’s huge but he’s got the feet to go with it. So he becomes a difficult chore for D-linemen in pass protection. They have a tough time getting around him and he has the feet to recover.”
That’s exactly what Bills scouts saw when they watched tape of the Raiders in 2006. There was a lot of dysfunction on the Raiders’ offense that season. The quarterbacks were Aaron Brooks and Andrew Walter. The unit scored just 10.5 points per game, the second worst total in the NFL this decade.
“I don’t think the team record had anything to do with the individual,” said John Guy, Bills vice president of pro personnel. “We saw a massive, massive guy with long arms, massive frame. For his size he was a very adequate athlete. Having worked in that organization, I know how athletic that organization is. There is always going to be athletes there. We thought he played on his feet. We thought his effort was good. He is a very solid character. He tried hard.”
The Raiders, in fact, made an effort to re-sign him after Walker exercised an option to void the final year of his contract. But by that point their effort was late and the Bills were making him a huge offer.
“I think it was a very tough decision for him because he’s from Oakland,” Guy said. “He was open minded enough to see that the world wasn’t flat.”
Walker has gained further respect within the team this summer for the way he handled his temporary move to left tackle, prompted by Jason Peters’ holdout.
“He made that move without a whisper,” Guy said. “He did it the way you’d like to see a professional go about his work. . . . On the first day he switched in camp, he slipped coming out of the locker room and bruised his hip, and he never missed a play [in practice] or said a word about it.”
Walker shut down speedy pass-rushing linebacker Julian Peterson in the Bills’ opening victory over Seattle.
Peters was back on the field in Jacksonville, but the Bills wanted to give him an occasional breather. Walker played most of the game at his normal right-side spot but worked about a dozen plays on the left when Peters was rested.
Guard Brad Butler said Walker works well with his teammates on the field.
“He’s so well-spoken he can articulate what the defensive end or the defensive line is doing, so it’s a big help for me,” Butler said. “On the offensive line, the biggest thing is communication.”
A challenge for a lineman as tall as Walker is to maintain leverage in run blocking.
“We’re continually working on his pad level, getting it down where he can be an explosive run blocker all the time,” Kugler said. “He’s working at it. He’s a hard worker not only in the field but in the classroom.”
Walker, born and raised in Oakland, admits he brings a little extra emotion to Sunday’s game.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” he said. “Being there for five years, I have a lot of good memories, a lot of friends still on that team.”
