Seahawks QB P.J. Walker looking for every opportunity to extend career

The official bio for quarterback P.J. Walker in the Seattle Seahawks’ media guide lists 33 different NFL transactions since 2017.

That’s 33 times he has either been added to or taken off an NFL roster. And that doesn’t include the season he spent in the XFL in 2020.

“It’s tough, but it’s a journey,” Walker said of his circuitous career, which includes 13 different stints on practice squads. “Everybody ain’t got the direct path to where they want to go. Everybody’s path is different. I don’t really look at anybody’s path and compare mine to theirs. There’s a reason I’m on the path I’m on and that’s just the way it is.”

Walker hopes his winding football road — which began by leading Elizabeth (N.J.) High to a state title in 2012, continued with four years at Temple where he left as the all-time leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns and completions, then headed into the pro ranks to spend three years with the Colts, one in the XFL, three with Carolina and parts of seasons with the Bears and Browns — may finally last a while in Seattle.

“Just make the best of it,” the now-29-year-old Walker said of how he is approaching his opportunity with the Seahawks. “Just letting it all play out.”

As Walker has learned, being on a roster in any capacity is better than not being on one at all.

And that’s where Walker found himself for much of this offseason after his contract with Cleveland ran out and he became a free agent. The 5-11, 215-pound Walker retreated to his offseason home in Charlotte to train and wait for his phone to ring.

It finally did in June with an offer from the Seahawks to join Geno Smith and Sam Howell in the quarterback room shortly after Seattle released undrafted free agent rookie Chevan Cordeiro.

Walker said the call didn’t come completely out of the blue. 

He said the Seahawks expressed some interest in him when he first entered the league in 2017 (a season when Seattle had Austin Davis and Trevone Boykin battling to back up Russell Wilson).

Seattle was again interested in the spring of 2020 when Walker emerged as one of the stars of the short-lived XFL, leading Houston to a 5-0 record before the league folded in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But at that point, he decided to sign with Carolina and head coach Matt Rhule, who had been his coach at Temple, as well.

Also coaching him in Carolina, though, was Jake Peetz, who at that time was the Panthers’ QB coach.

Peetz was hired as Seattle’s offensive passing game coordinator in February and told Walker that his new team might be in touch.

“I was sort of anticipating something might happen,” Walker said. “Just not knowing when.”

Finally coming to Seattle after all these years, he said, feels like “life coming full circle.”

It also returns him to the scene of the last of his nine NFL starts, this one with Cleveland against the Seahawks at Lumen Field on Oct. 29, filling in for an injured Deshaun Watson. 

Walker threw for 248 yards and a TD and had the Browns on the verge of a win, leading 20-17 and facing a third-and-3 at the Cleveland 41-yard-line with 2:04 left.

But a Walker slant pass intended for Amari Cooper instead glanced off the helmet of a blitzing Jamal Adams and bounded high into the air before landing in the hands of Seattle safety Julian Love for an interception. 

Seattle and Smith then turned that gift into a game-winning TD pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba with 38 seconds left.

“I saw [Adams],” Walker said. “I was just trying to throw around him and he head-butted the ball. One of those freakish plays that happened. I feel like if his head didn’t hit the ball, that play would have been completed.”

Walker played as a reserve in only two more games for the Browns.

Not only does he have some history with Peetz in Carolina and GM John Schneider through Seattle’s previous entreaties to him, but he also has gotten to know Smith through the years and has trained with Howell, who attended North Carolina, back in the Charlotte area.

It’s Howell with whom Walker is now competing for a spot on the 53-man roster. 

The trade investment the Seahawks made in Howell would seem to give him a leg up, as well Seattle likely being more concerned he would be claimed if he were put on waivers than would Walker. 

That would seem to paint a scenario where Seattle keeps Howell on the roster behind Smith and then signs Walker to the practice squad, able to be called up at any time if needed.

That Walker didn’t sign until the final week of the offseason program also puts him a little behind entering camp.

But he appears to be a quick study. 

During the third practice of camp Friday, Walker got his most significant snaps during 11-on-11 sessions and looked like someone who has had to quickly learn a lot of playbooks in his life, throwing a TD pass to tight end Brady Russell at one point, and at another hitting Cody White for a long gain. 

He has generally worked with the third-team offense but has gotten a few snaps with the second team.

“I thought he did a tremendous job at practice today,” Smith said after Friday’s practice. “… I think P.J. is a guy who’s going to help out our QB room and if he’s got to step in there and play, I know he’s going to do his thing.”

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald also has gotten some looks at Walker in the past, preparing for games against the Browns when he was defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens (Walker played briefly against Baltimore last year).

“He’s got some lower-body power, man,” Macdonald said this week. “He can really deliver the football and he plays smooth. I think you’ve seen how he’s operated and improved over the last three days or so. Just because in minicamp he wasn’t getting any reps. But you see the curve right now.” 

Walker figures to be setting himself up to get some significant snaps in Seattle’s three preseason games to compel the Seahawks to keep him around, or, at least, earn a shot somewhere else and keep the journey going.

“You have to look at every opportunity as an opportunity to extend your career in this league,” he said. “It’s not easy. It’s not easy at all. So every opportunity you’ve got to take advantage of and just make the best of it.”