How P.J. Walker progressed from being a kick returner for the scout squad to starting key games for the Browns

Bubba Ventrone, the Browns special teams coach, doesn’t refer to P.J. Walker as P.J. For him, he is Phillip.

It took me a few years to figure out that he was P.J., Ventrone said. “I called him Phil once.”

Walker began his career as a kick returner for Ventrone’s scout team in Indianapolis, where he worked as the special teams coordinator.

Ventrone played video of Walker returning kicks from a recent Saturday special teams practice.

Ventrone pronounced him to be good. “When they realized he was, like, the kick returner, the guys were shocked.”

Walker is a journeyman football player attempting to break into the NFL.

“I was just trying to figure out how to get on the field as much as I could when I was (in Indianapolis),” he remarked. “Seek a method to assist the group. I was going to take care of whatever needed to be done there. When I was there, that’s how I thought.

Walker’s Pro Football Reference page has more than 40 transactions. After leaving Temple to sign with Indianapolis in 2017, he was ups and downs on the Colts practice squad.

Walker remarked, “It was challenging, but in the end, all I was doing was trying to figure out how to keep improving every day and staying prepared.” It absolutely stinks not to be in the building all the time. Fridays were when I would be signed back. The transactions appear that way for that reason. On Fridays, I would re-sign and leave with the team on Saturdays.

The Colts finally let him go prior to the 2019 campaign. Before joining the XFL in 2020, he did not play football for the duration of that year.

Following his time in the XFL, he moved to Carolina, where he played for three seasons before finally getting the chance to put together consecutive starts for the first time in his career in the previous campaign.

Walker stated, “I only played one game every year for my first two years (in Carolina).” I was able to play five last year. It feels fantastic, therefore, for me to just grasp it and then get into the beat and start playing. You grow accustomed to having guys around and experiencing slights. Thus, for me, it’s just a matter of keeping growing, getting better, playing faster, and trying to apply what I learned in Carolina here.

Walker, the starting quarterback while Deshaun Watson recovers from a right throwing shoulder injury, is now a vital member of a squad with high aspirations. After rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson struggled in Week 4 in Watson’s place, Walker started against San Francisco in Week 5.

Watson attempted to make a comeback last week, but he was out of the game after receiving a blow that caused head coach Kevin Stefanski to become uncomfortable enough to bench Watson in favor of Walker. Walker led the game-winning drive as the Browns prevailed, 39–38. This season, this is the second time he has led a lead drive.

Wide receiver Amari Cooper stated, “There are those who believe there is a clutch gene.” Maybe he does have it.

Walker has completed half of his 66 passes for 370 yards and three interceptions in his two games with the Browns. Although it hasn’t always been nice, the Browns have prevailed in both of the games in which Walker has played, even if they did it with some assistance from the officials in the Colts’ final moments.

Indifferent, he declared. “Last year, I witnessed a game in which a flag was thrown that shouldn’t have been, and we ended up losing. Therefore, events do occur toward the end of the day. It happens that things don’t always go as expected or as you had hoped.

(D.J. Moore appeared to have scored the game-winning touchdown, but after taking off his helmet, a flag was called, and the Panthers lost the game in 2022. The Panthers fell in overtime after kicker Eddy Pineiro failed to convert a 48-yard extra point.)

Perhaps the challenge this week is even greater than it was when Walker made his 49ers debut. At least it was a home game. Seattle is home to some of the league’s most challenging road venues for this matchup.

Walker, who attended the Panthers’ victory last season under Sam Darnold, described it as the loudest NFL stadium he had ever been in.

Walker will have a full week of practice with the first team after Stefanski named him the starting lineup on Wednesday. Watson has also been providing assistance to him.

He’s been excellent, Walker remarked. “I’ve been attempting to understand what he observes by conversing with him virtually every practice period. We simply exchange messages, and I’m attempting to ascertain what he perceives or would do in relation to some of the plays that I present. I’m thus placing myself in his position as well.

For at least one more week, he will be starting in place of Watson, giving him the chance to participate in and attempt to win a significant game in a difficult setting for a team hoping to make a long postseason run this season.

He’s come a long way from the days he spent returning kicks for the Indianapolis scout squad under the moniker Phillip.