Delanie Walker set to retire as one of the Tennessee Titans best weapons
By Will Lomas
Delanie Walker should go down as one of the most consistent and dangerous weapons in Tennessee Titans’ history, so it is fitting that he retires with the team.
While Walker hasn’t played since 2019, he also hadn’t officially retired. That all changes today when he is set to announce his decision in Nashville.
It is hard to put into words exactly what Delanie Walker meant to the Tennessee Titans. You have to start with the fact that he made doing the dirty work look cool again.
Whether he was asked to work a combo block on an EDGE with Taylor Lewan or to come across the formation and pick up a blitzing linebacker, Walker wasn’t a guy who was just on the field to be a glorified receiver.
Not only was he willing to do that stuff, be he thrived doing it, and his physicality fed into his attitude. The way he played the game rubbed off on people and he was the man that defined “exotic smashmouth” even though that term is a joke now.
How good was Delanie Walker at his best with the Tennessee Titans?
It is a shame that Delanie Walker never got a real chance to play with the trio of Arthur Smith, Ryan Tannehill, and Derrick Henry. He was on the team with that roster assembled, but he just couldn’t stay healthy. If the timeline was a little different, those three along with Corey Davis, A.J. Brown, and Jonnu Smith, might have been strong enough to overcome the Titans’ terrible defense in 2020 and win a ring.
Regardless of which OC he was forced to work with each year, Walker managed to make the most of it and he had four straight seasons with 800+ yards.
Think about this, in 2015 Walker had 1,088 receiving yards as a tight end. In A.J. Brown’s best season with the team, he only had 1,075 receiving yards.
There is a reason why Delanie Walker went to three-straight Pro Bowls, and he did it all through constant changes to the coaching staff and the quarterbacks around him.
Every Tennessee Titans fan knows how important Walker was and he was one of the very few signings that Ruston Webster made that actually worked.
While I don’t think that the Titans will ever retire his number or put him in the Ring of Honor, it is going to be a long time before Tennessee Titans associate the number 82 with anyone other than Delanie Walker.