'Room to improve': Jaguars' OLB Travon Walker wants to see bigger leap in Year 3

Second-year outside linebacker Travon Walker lobbed an imaginary pitch in the direction of Jacksonville Jaguars’ single-season sack leader Josh Allen, who cranked back and knocked the fake pitch far outside of EverBank Stadium.

For a moment, the world got a glimpse at the past, present and future of Jacksonville's defense.

The past was Calais Campbell, who previously held the record for single-season sacks and was a mentor to Allen — who honored Campbell by reenacting the home run swing sack celebration.

The present is Allen, a player who is coming off the best pass rushing season Jacksonville has ever seen and is due for a payday this offseason.

And Walker is the future — the No. 1 overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft who took a major stride in his second season with the club.

“I feel like I definitely took a step. But It’s nothing to what I know I can do,” Walker said from the Miller Electric Center during locker cleanout. “I feel there’s a lot more room to improve."

Nielsen's new gig: Jaguars hire former Falcons coach Ryan Nielsen as defensive coordinator

Last season, Walker talked extensively about growth after Jacksonville lost in the Divisional Round of the AFC playoffs.

And even after the team didn’t make the playoffs this season, Walker remains confident in his personal growth in the league.

“If we would’ve achieved our team goal, I’m pretty sure it would’ve been a lot more from me, personally,” he said. “A lot more would’ve come out of it. It’s definitely some growth that was made and it’s an uphill slope from here.”

He jumped his sack numbers from 3.5 last season to 10 this year.

Walker came on strong after Jacksonville’s bye week, picking up 6.5 of those sacks in the final eight games of the season. He recorded 52 total tackles including 10 for a loss and had 19 quarterback hits — improvements in both categories from his rookie year.

And paired with Allen, the duo led the NFL in sacks with 27.5 between the two of them and accounted for more than half of the Jacksonville’s sacks this season.

“We always knew we could be [those] guys; it was just being in a position to play freely,” Walker said when asked about Allen. The two players have developed a close bond in their two seasons playing together. “Once we got that chemistry, I feel like it was only uphill from there.”

Walker looking for next jump under new defensive coordinator Nielsen

A few hours after Walker and his teammates finished cleaning their lockers, head coach Doug Pederson made the decision to fire defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and most of his defensive staff.

On Monday, the team announced they were hiring former Falcons coordinator Ryan Nielsen to replace Caldwell. Nielsen’s coaching background is as a defensive line specialist known for getting the most out of his players.

He spent 2017-22 with the New Orleans Saints, serving as the defensive line coach as well as associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator.

He’s worked with star players like Saints’ All-Pro Cameron Jordan, Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson and even Dolphins outside linebacker Bradley Chubb when Chubb was in college at North Carolina State.

And Walker is next in line to reap the benefits of Nielsen’s expertise.

“In order for me to be the best version of me — to help contribute to the team goals — I definitely have to make an even bigger jump in Year 3,” he said.

Juston Lewis is a Jacksonville Jaguars beat reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on the website formerly known as Twitter at @JustonLewis_.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars OLB Travon Walker talks Josh Allen, personal improvement