“Taking the will out of a man”: A mentality shapes DeMarcus Walker

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In the copycat league that is the NFL, DeMarcus Walker wants to run at his own pace.

Instead of building his game after a single player, the Broncos’ second-round pick prefers to shape his game around a specific mindset: dominate.

“I just love dominating. That’s one thing that I love to do is dominate,” Walker said at his introductory press conference on Saturday. “Just taking the will out of a man in the game of football. That’s just something that came naturally.”

The defensive end was added to the Broncos to continue to push John Elway’s number one offseason priority of keeping the defense great. Although he plays a different position, Walker believes his dominating mindset is similar to that of Super Bowl 50 MVP, Von Miller.

“[Von’s] one guy I looked up to,” he said. “I couldn’t really mimic my game after him because we are totally two different players. Someone who has the relentlessness and shows up on big games and dominates and doesn’t care what a player does, he’s going to beat you. That’s the type of mentality that I adapt to myself.”

During his senior season at Florida State, Walker was nearly impossible to stop as he finished with the most sacks and tackles for loss per game, totally 16 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss. Much like Miller, Walker has the ability to take over games. In the first game in 2016—coincidentally against Broncos seventh-round pick Chad Kelly—Walker totaled 4.5 sacks against No. 11 Ole Miss on his way to becoming a consensus All-American and the ACC Defensive Player of the year.

While he doesn’t try to mimic a specific player, Walker takes characteristics of some of the leagues best to mold his game.

“I’m different, man,” Walker said when asked who his game resembles the most. “I just like to dip and dink. I watch everybody — [J.J.] Watt, [Michael] Bennett, [Aaron] Donald, [Ndamukong] Suh — because there is always room for improvement, you can always get better. There is never too much knowledge. If somebody says there is too much, I say, ‘Nah, foolish.’”

He projects to be a perfect fit as a defensive end in Denver’s 3-4 defensive scheme opposite Derek Wolfe. Walker joins NT Domata Peko and DE Zach Kerr as additions to Denver’s defensive line as they attempt to revamp a unit that gave up the fifth-most rushing yards last season. Along with his ability, his dominating demeanor on the field was a draw for the Broncos’ brass.

“I love making plays; I love getting to the quarterback.”