Former Titans TE Delanie Walker: ‘Playing in Tennessee hurt my value when it came to accolades’

Former Tennessee Titans tight end and fan favorite Delanie Walker had some interesting comments to make regarding his legacy, time in Tennessee and why he wants to continue playing football in 2021.

Making an appearance on SiriusXM, Walker was asked about why he hopes to sign with another team this coming season.

Here is the full transcript of how Walker responded to a question regarding what motivates him to continue playing:

“I honestly want to win a Super Bowl. I feel like that helps you and your status once you retire from this game. It’s sad that it’s something that you gotta have in order to be recognized sometimes. Again, me being in Tennessee, and I hate to say this, but it hurts my value when it comes to awards and accolades, because I played in Tennessee. You can look at some of the greats like Eddie George and Steve McNair, they didn’t get their coats [Hall of Fame] yet because they didn’t win a Super Bowl and because they played in Tennessee. If I can win a Super Bowl, maybe that’ll help me. We’ll go from there.”

Credit to the host of the show, who I failed to identify despite my attempts, who pressed Walker on the issue by responding that current Titans and former Falcons WR Julio Jones may never win a Super Bowl, but it won’t change how fans view his legacy.

Walker decided to take things further by responding with:

“You brought up Julio Jones, but he played in Atlanta. Look at Atlanta and their fan base. Look at the type of players that played in Atlanta and where they’re at. When you play in a city like Nashville, an organization like Tennessee, it’s so small, our fan base isn’t as great as some of these other organizations. Those guys get the accolades. When you play in Tennessee, you don’t get primetime games, you don’t get a lot of people watching your games. You don’t get mentioned a lot. Sometimes, you don’t get brought up in these conversations. But when you have a Super Bowl ring, they bring you up in those conversations.”

There’s a lot to unpack here. My overall opinion is that Delanie Walker was an excellent player. It’s a shame that the Titans wasted his prime years by being so bad at football. On the flip side, I don’t think the reason Walker won’t get into the HOF has anything to do with the fact that he played for the Titans. That sounds like a bit of a cop out to me.

Calvin Johnson comes to mind. He spent his entire career in Detroit, and even played on a historically bad 0-16 team. But because Johnson was one of the all-time greatest talents we’ve ever seen play the position, his reputation remains excellent.

The fan base has gotten better since Walker left, because the team has gotten significantly better. With that said, there are still improvements to be made. This team is now a serious contender and the fan base does need to step it up a bit.

What are your thoughts? Drop your opinions in the comments.