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Before games, Quay Walker meditates. Between series, he collects his thoughts with a towel over his head. Between plays, Walker looks at a calming word written on his gloves.
It’s all part of the new-and-improved mental outlook for the Green Bay Packers’ second-year linebacker.
“Just calms me down and puts me in a mind state where I’m calm and not really thinking about anything [negative],” Walker explained on Friday, two days before facing the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field.
Walker called himself a lifelong “overthinker,” meaning a tendency of letting one mistake fester and linger. Meditation helps him move past whatever just happened so he can focus on the next play. It’s a life skill he thinks he’ll stick with for the rest of his life.
“I’m just so hard on myself so like, as soon as I mess up, I know already that I messed up,” Walker explained. “It can tear down and wear down on me and it can translate over to the next play and sometimes that can lead to another bad play. You never want to stack bad plays on top of bad plays.”
Walker took up meditation at the urging of cornerback Jaire Alexander and in response to last year’s ejections against the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions. At the moment, those ejections were a major blow not only to the defense but to Walker’s reputation. In the big picture of his career, though, he thought they could be a blessing in disguise.
“Yeah, for sure. It humbled me in a way,” Walker said. “At the same time, just by me having that, it allowed me to experience new things like meditation and everything like that. As bad as I hate what happened my first year, I’m kind of glad it happened at the same time. Not what I did but what I learned from it.”
Walker is off to a strong start to the season. He had a pick-six in Week 1 at Chicago and 17 tackles last week at Atlanta. Only veteran Seahawks star Bobby Wagner (18 vs. the Rams) has had more tackles in a game this season.
Walker’s talent has never been in dispute. He was All-Rookie last year, when he finished second among all rookie defenders in tackles. His maturity clearly was in dispute after two outlandish ejections.
To his credit, Walker has gone the extra mile to put his misdeeds behind him. Meditation is a big part of the formula.
“For me, because I think a lot, I’m always in my thoughts, so it just clears my mind,” Walker said. “But in the beginning, it’s kind of hard. It’s hard to be consistent with it. Some days you’re going to feel like it works, some days it’s not.
“But, for me, it’s been working. And the days I don’t do it are the days you pretty much can tell. Some days when I don’t do it, Ja can say, ‘Quay, I can tell you didn’t meditate today.’ And I can do the same with him. But that’s about it. Just trusting it and sticking with it.”
Between plays, at the urging of Dr. Chris Carr, the Packers’ director of performance psychology and team behavioral health and a key figure in Walker's career, Walker will look at a key word written on his gloves that helps “reset” him from a bad play or a contentious moment with an opposing player. (Walker said he’d share that word some other day.)
After a frustrating series, Walker will put a towel over his head and meditate on the bench for a minute or two before position coach Kirk Olivadotti talks about adjustments.
It’s all part of finding that sweet spot from a mentality perspective. Linebacker isn’t quarterback or kicker, two positions that demand calm in the storm. Walker plays linebacker. It’s a position where fire and ferocity and violence are the name of the game.
“I’m an emotional player,” Walker said. “It’s hard, because I’m an emotional player. So, I’m intense a whole lot. But it’s hard to do it, just like after the whistle. After the whistle, I turn it off. I get the call out, and I turn around, and then I turn it back on. Turn it on, turn it off, if that makes sense. After the whistle, just on/off button. Know when to turn it on, know when to turn it off.”
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