Tennessee Titans Delanie Walker considered a fantasy football bust

ESPN has named Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker as a fantasy football bust for 2019.

It seems the fantasy football world is a little down on our man, Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker, who is being considered a fantasy football bust by one ESPN expert for 2019.

In their list of fantasy sleepers, busts and breakouts, Walker was listed as a bust, according to one writer.

Here’s what KC Joyner had to say about Walker’s prospects for this season.

"Walker will be 35 years old at the start of the 2019 NFL season and is coming off of a 2018 campaign that was truncated by a dislocated ankle. He was a mediocre downfield threat even before this injury, ranking 23rd in vertical YPA in the 2017 season (9.7), so this ailment could all but eliminate Walker’s downfield production. Combine those factors with his being in a run-first Titans offense and competing with Jonnu Smith for targets and Walker’s days of being a mid- to low-tier TE1 are likely all but over."

There are certainly some reasons to be down on Walker for this season.

Doubts about Delanie Walker

For starters, he’ll be 35 in August and is coming off a gruesome ankle injury that ended his 2018 campaign prematurely. Before going down in Week 1, Walker was already showing just how good he was with four catches for 52 yards, though.

The Titans will also sport one of the deeper receiving corps. this franchise has seen in quite some time, giving Walker the kind of competition for targets he hasn’t seen during his tenure in Tennessee.

Fellow tight end Jonnu Smith is the least of Walker’s concerns for receptions this season, but new slot receiver Adam Humphries could take some looks away from the veteran tight end over the middle.

Giving Delanie Walker the benefit of the doubt

We’d be remiss if we didn’t at least give Walker the benefit of the doubt. He had been a mid- to low-tier TE1 for the four years prior to 2018 and he’s still one of quarterback Marcus Mariota’s preferred pass-catchers.

Finding a tight end who can match his past production (800 yards or more and an average of five touchdowns per year from 2014 to 2017) isn’t easy to find at the tight end position in fantasy.

While he won’t be in the upper-echelon of fantasy tights ends with the likes of tight ends like Philadelphia Eagles’ Zach Ertz, San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle and Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, Walker is still a damn-good bet to outproduce just about everyone else.

I still believe in what Walker can do on a football field and I’m in good company, as 49ers great Patrick Willis also agrees that Walker will come back in 2019 as good as ever.

I don’t mind that kind of company.