When Delanie Walker broke his ankle in 2018, he said he knew that the injury was bad. He was right. Four years and only seven games later, the three-time Pro Bowler has finally decided to call it a day and announced his retirement from the NFL.
Walker said that the moment he injured his ankle, he was aware that the injury would be “a tough one to come back from.” He added that he wanted to show his team that he could come back early, but that things just didn’t work out the way he planned.
No Other Job in the World like the NFL
The tight end tried to postpone his retirement announcement for as long as possible, hoping that his ankle would be good enough for him to come back one day. However, Walker probably sensed that his comeback wouldn’t happen, as he only played seven NFL games after the injury, and his final game was in 2019.
So, when he was offered to work with the NFL’s Legends Community, he knew that the time had come for him to retire after 14 seasons in the league.
Walker said that there was “no other job in the world like the NFL,” so it was really hard for him to give that up. However, when the Legends Community job came his way, he realized it was time “to hang it up” and there was no better team to do that with than the Tennessee Titans.
Best NFL Tight End in Catches
In his 14 seasons in the NFL, Delanie Walker scored 36 touchdowns in 183 games and had 504 catches for 5,888 yards. He played the first half of his career with the San Francisco 49ers but could only score 8 touchdowns.
His career took off when he joined the Tennessee Titans in 2013. Unlike in San Francisco, where he was behind Vernon Davis, in Tennessee, Walker was a starter. As a result, he had 356 catches from 2013 to 2017 and was the best NFL tight end in that category.
His performances in that period earned him three Pro Bowl picks, in 2015, 2016, and 2017. With 28 touchdown catches, he is also the best tight end in the Titans’ franchise history.
