Walker Little’s Biggest Opportunity With the Jaguars Yet Comes at the Perfect Time

When the 2023 season kicks off next month, there will only be 32 football players in the whole world who can call themselves starting NFL left tackles. 

For the first time in his career, Walker Little will enter Week 1 as one of those 32 players. And while the circumstances for Little aren't quite like many others, that doesn't come as a surprise -- that has been the story of his football career thus far.

Few starting tackles have played as little football as Little. He played one game in his final two college seasons due to circumstances outside of his control. As a rookie, he was drafted to a team without the proper leadership in place to develop rookies and started just three games behind veteran left tackle Cam Robinson.

Little then tried his hand at right tackle for the first time in his career in 2022, going into a training camp battle with Jawaan Taylor that he eventually lost. Taylor has since established himself as one of the best right tackles in the NFL and earned a mega-deal from the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Little still started five games for the Jaguars at the end of the 2022 season after a season-ending injury to Robinson, impressing and preventing any dropoff along the offensive line in the season's most important point. 

"He's done a great job. Last year and our rookie year he was kind of thrown into a spot where he was maybe not expecting it necessarily but had to go in and start. Every position is tough but not expecting to have to go in there and play the rest of the season, but especially left tackle that's probably one of the harder ones," Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said earlier in training camp. 

"He's done a great job, he's always been ready. That's something that I think has been cool to see, is a guy that wasn't a starter but has been ready every week like he is and then when he gets the opportunity there's no drop off. That's what you look for in guys on our team and he's been a perfect example of that. He's ready for this opportunity, I think he's going to do great. I've got a lot of confidence in him, he's worked really hard. You've seen him get more and more confident over the last two years as he's played more and proven himself so I'm excited for him."

Little has persevered through a season-ending knee injury in the season-opener of 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Urban Meyer regime, coming out on the other side better for it all. Now, he is set to be the Jaguars' starting left tackle for the first month of 2023 as Robinson deals with a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing substance policy. 

"I mean, I definitely think last season in particular, I grew a lot, just getting a lot more playing time and reps against some good opponents and good players. So I feel really confident coming in this season," Little told Jaguar Report last week.

As a result of that growth, there aren't many inside the Jaguars' building who don't have a high level of confidence in Walker. He has only played nine full games in the last four seasons, but it is what he has shown in that span that has stood out to the teammates and coaches who have grown with him.

"Obviously, I work really hard to kind of gain that confidence both in players and coaches. So it's nice to know that they have that confidence, but it's also a task to keep it up and keep playing well," Little said. 

Little has taken the vast majority of his reps at left tackle in training camp, though he has seen the occasional rep at left guard to prepare him for a potential stint inside when Robinson returns. 

"He’s been a guy that you say, okay, he can play tackle, he can play guard, we can move him around a little bit. Obviously, we feel like his best position is tackle. But again, I think the versatility that he has shown us is very valuable," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said during camp. 

"The fact that he can move inside and play guard if need be. Again, his maturity, he didn’t play a ton of snaps in college, obviously here, they saw something that excited them, and it’s the same things that excite us. He’s done a nice job these first couple weeks of camp and he’s another player that’s really embraced his opportunity.”

As a result of Little's relative inexperience, the Jaguars are still aiming to get him as many game reps as possible. Little played a few series longer than other offensive line starters in last weekend's preseason opener, something that could help him come Week 1 vs. the Colts.

"You know, in game reps are critical," Jaguars offensive line coach Phil Rauscher told Jaguar Report. 

"I mean, and, you know, during Dallas like he was going against some good rushers, so we thought it was important to keep them in there. And it's not just the rusher, but it's the speed. It's the games that come with it. It's just seeing the whole picture because it happens so much faster. As hard as we practice -- and we practice hard -- it's just that the game stuff is up another notch. It helps."

Little will get those reps in bunches over the next two months. What happens with Little when Robinson returns is anyone's guess, but a strong showing over the first four games could say a lot as he enters his last season without being eligible for a contract extension. 

Little has come a long way in four years, even if the starts haven't racked up. Now it is his chance to show just how far that is,

"Yeah I mean, like, in some way last year to me, he felt a little bit like a rookie, like, just like he was raw and all that stuff. And now he's starting to come into his own," Rauscher said. "And like, there's very few rookies who could come in right away and adapt. So like he's on a normal track, I would say and I think that where he's at development-wise is about where we'd expect him to be."