football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Elizabeth High School. During his junior year, Walker threw for 2,168 yards and 18 touchdowns, while going 120-of-189 (63.5 percent) in passing percentage. Following the completion of his high school career, Walker chose to attend Temple University, under head coach Matt Rhule.

College career

After accepting an athletic scholarship to attend

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

, Walker played for coach Matt Rhule's

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the college athletics, athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson (athletic director), Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and masco ...

team from 2013 to 2016.

2013 season

Walker began his collegiate career as a backup to Connor Reilly. Walker would eventually earn the starting spot at

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

in week 6 against

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, where he would throw his first collegiate touchdown. Walker obtained his first win of his career in week 7 against

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, by a score of 33–14. He would receive his first collegiate weekly award (QB of the week – CFPA – honorable mention) following a 59–49 loss to SMU in week 9. In the final week of the season, Walker earned

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

Offensive Player of the Week and was a finalist for the Manning Award. Walker would finish his freshman year having started 7 out of 12 games.

2014 season

Walker's sophomore season did not include as many highlights as his 2013 debut performance; however, Walker did earn career-high completions (29) and pass attempts (49) in a losing effort against

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

in Week 2. Walker was able to secure three honorable mentions during the season (Weeks 1, 2 and 4) and passed for at least 1 touchdown in his first seven games.

2015 season

Walker would start every game in his junior year, becoming only the third person to do so in Owl history. In a rare feat, Walker would both throw for and receive a pass in two two-point conversion attempts in Week 8 in a winning effort against UCF. Walker would lead the Owls to a 10–4 overall record (7–1 in conference play), earning a bid to the Boca Raton Bowl in losing effort against the Toledo Rockets by a score of 17–32. He finished the season with a school record 2,972 passing yards and tied the record for total offense (rushing and passing) with 3,179 yards.

2016 season

file:PJWalker.jpg, upright=1, Walker (#8) with

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

in 2016 Walker's final year at Temple was a record-setting season for the senior. In the season opener against 2016 Army Black Knights football team, Army, Walker became Temple's all-time passing yards leader (10,273 yards). Walker would again lead the Owls to a bowl game at the end of the season, following a 10–4 overall record (8–0 in conference); Walker and the Owls would lose the Military Bowl 26–34 against Wake Forest. Additionally, Walker would receive numerous honors, accolades and watch-list nominations in the 2016 season, including American Athletic Conference Championship Game Most Outstanding Player, CFPA National Player of the Year Watch List,

Davey O'Brien Award The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player judged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National C ...

Watch List, as well as multiple preseason and conference recognitions.

Records

Walker is the Owls all-time leader in wins by a starting quarterback (28), passing yards, passing touchdowns, completions, attempts, total yards and total touchdowns. Walker led the Owls to their first conference title in 49 years (

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

) and their first ever back-to-back bowl appearances in school history (

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

).

College statistics

Professional career

Indianapolis Colts

On May 3, 2017, Walker was signed by the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

as an undrafted free agent. He was waived on September 2, 2017, and was signed to the Colts' practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Colts on January 1, 2018. On September 1, 2018, Walker was waived by the Colts and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He spent time on and off the Colts practice squad before being released on December 26, 2018, but was re-signed three days later. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 13, 2019. On August 31, 2019, Walker was waived and signed to the practice squad the next day, only to be released two days later.

Houston Roughnecks

In October 2019, Walker was drafted by the newly-formed XFL for the 2020 season. The

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

called the XFL office to ask if they could sign Walker in October 2019, but was blocked as he was already under contract with the league. He was then allocated to the Houston Roughnecks prior to the 2020 XFL Draft. In the Roughnecks' first game against the

Los Angeles Wildcats Los Angeles Wildcats is a name shared by several American football teams from Los Angeles: * Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL), a team that played in the American Football League of 1926 * Los Angeles Wildcats (Minor League AFL), a team that played in the ...

, Walker tossed four touchdowns, helping the team win a 37–17 victory. He was named the league's first ever Star of the Week for his performance. Walker's final game of the 2020 campaign was marked by some controversy after, while his team was leading the Seattle Dragons 32–23, he mistakenly kneeled on fourth down at his own 21-yard-line with three seconds remaining on the clock – officials either failed to notice or refused to deal with Walker's palpable timing error and declared the game over, thus depriving Seattle the opportunity to score a touchdown and potential three-point conversion to tie the game. The league later admitted it was a mistake, but declared that the result would stand. On March 20, 2020, the season was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Walker finished the 2020 season with a 5–0 record, 1,338 passing yards and 15 touchdowns with four interceptions. He led the league in both passing touchdowns and passing yards. He was placed on the reserve/other league list after signing with the Carolina Panthers in March, which was later terminated after the league had fully suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Carolina Panthers

On March 25, 2020, Walker signed a two-year contract with the Panthers worth up to $1.5 million, reuniting him with former

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

head coach Matt Rhule. On October 29, 2020, Walker came in for the Panthers during the third quarter against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

after an injury to Teddy Bridgewater. When playing, Walker only threw one pass completion for three yards to Robby Anderson in his four pass attempts and was benched once Bridgewater was ready to play again. After Bridgewater injured his right knee in the fourth quarter of the Panthers' Week 10 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Walker finished the game, throwing for two completions and 12 yards. With Bridgewater remaining injured, Walker made his first NFL start the following week against the Detroit Lions, throwing for 258 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in a 20–0 win. On January 10, 2022, Walker re-signed with the Panthers. Walker began to get playing time following Baker Mayfield's injury in Week 5 against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. In Week 7, Walker threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns in a 21–3 win over the Buccaneers. In the Week 8 game against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

, Walker completed a 64-yard touchdown pass to receiver D. J. Moore that would’ve essentially sealed the game for Carolina. However, due to Moore taking his helmet off and drawing a flag, the game went into overtime after kicker Eddy Piñeiro missed the extra point, although it was later determined that no flag should have been thrown because Moore was already off the field. The Panthers would go on to lose the game 34–37 in overtime.

Chicago Bears

On March 16, 2023, Walker signed a two-year contract with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. On August 27, 2023, he was released by the team.

Cleveland Browns

On August 30, 2023, Walker was signed to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster on September 30 ahead of the Browns Week 4 game against the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

. Walker was again elevated to the active roster and named the starter for the Browns' Week 6 game against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

following an injury to Deshaun Watson. In his first start, Walker led the Browns to victory over San Francisco with a final score of 19–17. In Week 7, Walker entered the game again due to an injury to Watson, throwing for 178 yards and leading the Browns to a 39–38 last-minute win over the Colts. On October 25, the Browns signed him to their active roster. He was waived by the Browns on December 9, and re-signed to the practice squad four days later. On December 26, Walker was signed to the active roster.

Seattle Seahawks

On June 10, 2024, Walker signed with the Seattle Seahawks. He was released on August 27.

Calgary Stampeders

On October 8, 2024, Walker was signed to the practice roster of the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. He was released on October 27, then re-signed on November 11.

Career statistics

XFL career statistics

NFL career statistics

References

External links

CFL bio

Temple Owls bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, P. J. 1995 births Living people American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks Calgary Stampeders players Carolina Panthers players Chicago Bears players Seattle Seahawks players Cleveland Browns players Elizabeth High School (New Jersey) alumni Houston Roughnecks players Indianapolis Colts players Players of American football from Elizabeth, New Jersey Players of Canadian football from New Jersey Temple Owls football players

Early life

College career

2013 season

2014 season

2015 season

2016 season

Records

College statistics

Professional career

Indianapolis Colts

Houston Roughnecks

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Seattle Seahawks

Calgary Stampeders

Career statistics

XFL career statistics

NFL career statistics

References

External links