The last time Anthony Walker Jr. played a football game in South Florida, he finished off his high school career at Miami Monsignor Pace with a win over rival Belen Jesuit.
Since then, he went to Northwestern for college and played in the NFL for the Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns.
After a decade in the midwest, it was time for a homecoming for the 28-year-old South Florida native heading into his eighth professional season.
“I stressed to my agent it’s very, very important to get me out the cold,” Walker said. “I was sick of it. I hadn’t been home in a while — since I was 17 years old. I was like, ‘It’s about time I get some warm weather.’ He said Miami. I said, ‘Whatever. Let’s go. Let’s get it done.’
“Obviously, being home is great, everything like that, but the opportunity to play this game at the highest level is something that I’ll always cherish. … First time, with my family over here, to have so much closeness to me for practice and games. It’ll be a cool opportunity, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Although Walker is making a Miami homecoming, he cannot claim Dolphins fanhood. His father, Anthony Walker Sr., who is coach at Pace, had him root for another team since childhood.
“My dad grew up and was in love with the Dallas Cowboys, and he told me I had to become a fan or I couldn’t live in his house,” Walker explained. “So I became a fan really quickly.”
That said, Walker’s father had him watch a lot of local high school football and Miami Hurricanes games growing up. He remembers watching linebackers Lavonte David and Sean Spence when they were on the 2007 Miami Northwestern High national championship team, with Spence also playing for UM and David putting together a standout NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also threw quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in as someone he looked up to from South Florida.
Walker joins the Dolphins after a pair of injuries the past two seasons in Cleveland. In September 2022, he tore his quadriceps tendon to miss the rest of the year. He rehabbed it, came back, and deep into the 2023 season, a knee issue popped up that cost him the rest of that campaign. He is all set for this offseason and the buildup into 2024, though.
“It wasn’t anything significant. I didn’t think it was and the team didn’t think it was. Just soreness or whatever, ended up being a low-grade infection or something inside the knee,” Walker said. No structural damage, but more so, just had to clean it out with antibiotics and all that stuff. I don’t know how it came. They don’t know how it came.
“All my tests were negative. Just followed the protocol with antibiotics and rehab, and I’m back full-go training and everything.”
Walker joins new Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver after the two competed for the past three seasons in the rough-and-tough AFC North, Weaver as defensive line coach with the Baltimore Ravens.
“Very aggressive, very downhill,” Walker said of the linebacker play in Weaver’s defense. “Obviously, playing against them the last three years, trying to go against that defense was almost impossible at times. The linebacker play, just downhill, physical football, and then you protect the second level, protect the middle of the field. That’s something that they did really well in Baltimore, and that’s something that I pride myself on.
“If the team wants to attack the middle, they pay for it every time.”
He looks forward to competing and working with new Dolphins acquisition at inside linebacker, Jordyn Brooks, and returning linebacker David Long Jr.
“Two elite linebackers that have been playing at an elite level for a very long time,” Walker said. “It’d be good to compete with those guys and show what we can bring to this team.”
Walker, a captain with the Browns, said he plans on being consistent as a leader as he comes down to Miami.
“For me, just being myself every day, being the same guy every day,” Walker said. “Intentional about my work, intentional about the details, and I’ll just do that every day. How that feeds off on others and everything like that, only time will tell.”
Walker’s last two jersey numbers with the Browns, 4 and 5, are taken on the Dolphins roster, by cornerbacks Kader Kohou and Jalen Ramsey, respectively. In Cleveland, he gave up No. 4 to quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“If I have to get another number, it’s not a big deal. I’ll make the most of it,” Walker said.
