Coming in at No. 82 is Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker. With each passing day we inch closer to football season. Our Countdown to Kickoff continues with one of the most underrated players in the NFL.
There are now just 82 days until the new NFL season starts. Today we continue our Countdown to Kickoff with No. 82 Delanie Walker. The Tennessee Titans tight end more than deserves the recognition. Despite spending the first seven years as a No. 2 tight end in San Francisco, Walker has quietly become one of the best tight end in the league over the past few seasons.
Related Story: The Top 12 Quarterbacks in the NFL
There are a lot of little things Walker does that goes overlooked on top of his gaudy receiving numbers. In 2015 Walker was one of the lone bright spots for the Titans who continued to be among the worst teams in the NFL. He caught 94 passes for 1,088 yards and six touchdowns. This came with him playing just 15 games, fewer than 700 snaps and having a quarterback duo of rookie Marcus Mariota and Zach Mettenberger – the latter now with the San Diego Chargers.
Perhaps more importantly than his primary numbers are the things he does that doesn’t show up in the stat sheets. He boosted his yards after catch with 16 broken tackles and caught over 72 percent of the passes thrown in his direction. Most importantly of all, he’s an outstanding run-blocker. Of all the primary pass-catching tight ends, Walker may be the best run-blocker of them all. Especially now that guys like Jason Witten and Ben Watson are older and not quite as athletic and spry as they once were.
Since joining the Titans in 2013, he’s improved as a pass-catcher each year and has not failed to catch at least 60 catches. During seven years in San Fran he never managed to catch even 50 passes. He was more used as a blocker due to Vernon Davis’s deficiencies as a complete TE. In 2013 Walker caught 60 passes for 571 yards and six touchdowns. He saw a nice jump in 2014 catching 64 passes for 890 yards and four TDs.
The stat that jumps out to me is that his yards per catch jumped from 9.5 to 14.1 and his long went from 33 to 68. This shows the mentality the team had toward Walker and how it changed after having him a year. They clearly realized they had a special athlete and knew they could use him more to stretch the field a bit that your typical tight end. As an all-around tight end, it’s hard to say he’s not a top five tight end in the league or better.
Walker is finally getting his recognition from writers like me and the general public. He also made his first Pro Bowl and was recently named Pro Football Focus‘ 50th best player in the NFL for 2015. Still, this hasn’t gone to Walker’s head. He’s still hungry and driving to get better.
“I always felt like I was an elite tight end in the league, and I finally got the opportunity to play in the Pro Bowl,’’ Walker told Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “But it hasn’t changed me. I am still hungry, and I want to do more. This time, I don’t want to be an alternate. I want to be that guy that gets voted in and I know that takes us winning games. This year I really think we are going to win the games and I’ll probably get the recognition I deserve.”
must read: NFL: Breakout Player of the Year Candidates
The Titans will once again rely on their talented tight end in 2016 as he continues to thrive as a starter. Look for him to continue to make an impact in all facets of the game. Walker is truly one of the best and most underappreciated players in the NFL.