Delanie Walker: Comeback Player of the Year
Even more so than Mariota, Walker is trying to come back from adversity due to injury. The veteran tight end suffered a horrific ankle injury in the team’s Week 1 loss to the Miami Dolphins last season and missed the rest of the 2018 campaign.
Before that injury, Walker was off to a great start in that game, proving he still had plenty left in the tank at 34 years young. But another year older and coming off an ankle injury, people are doubting what Walker can still do.
That is somewhat odd considering he’s been one of the elite tight ends in the game for the entirety of his Titans tenure, averaging 896 yards and five touchdowns per season from 2014 to 2017. I think he deserves a little more credit than to be written off.
Until we see differently, pencil Walker in for another 800 yards and a handful of touchdowns, which would be an even more impressive season when you consider what he had to return from and the increased competition for targets with the depth the Titans have at receiver.
As Patrick Willis put it, “Delanie, that’s one person that if I had to put a lot of chips on, I’d bet on him every time.”