And now Walker is under contract through 2020 with yet another contract extension.
"It feels good DaeSean Hamilton Jersey Broncos ," Walker said Saturday. "You know I feel like I worked hard on the field and especially off the field with the community. So it feels good that the organization recognizes that and see what I did and rewarded me would have a nice contract. So I'm excited about that."
The Titans announced the extension after practice Friday, their second signing of the day with their Pro Bowl left tackle celebrating his new five-year, $80 million deal with a white suit and hat mimicking Boss Hogg from the TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard." Walker had been going into his final season under contract before the extension.
"I couldn't top Taylor, so sorry to disappoint," Walker said with a laugh. "I couldn't find a white suit in time."
Originally a sixth-round pick out of Central Missouri State, Walker spent his first seven seasons in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers never catching more than 29 passes in any season. The 6-foot-2, 248-pound Walker knew he could do much more and gambled on signing with Tennessee in 2013 as a free agent.
He's delivered with 356 receptions since 2013 鈥?most by any tight end in the NFL in that span. Walker's best season statistically came in 2015 when he caught 94 passes for 1,088 yards, and he led the Titans with 74 catches for 807 yards. Walker has gone to the Pro Bowl the past three seasons and was the game's MVP last January .
AP Video: @delaniewalker82 on how he keeps himself in shape going into his 13 season. The Pro Bowl tight end has new extension through 2020. pic.uyAsRjE6Jk
鈥?Teresa Walker (@TeresaMWalker) July 28, 2018
Titans coach Mike Vrabel notes Walker didn't come into the league as a first-round pick or starter from the beginning.
"He's worked and he's gotten better every year, and he continues to do that and takes great care of his body and football's very important to him Authentic Sebastian Janikowski Jersey ," Vrabel said.
Walker said he knew this all was possible, which is why he left the 49ers.
"I had something good there," Walker said. "You know they loved me there. They gave me the opportunity to play, but I didn't see myself being that guy that I wanted to be. Knowing that I can be a dominant starter in this league, and the Titans gave me the opportunity. So I'm thankful and I'm blessed to still be able to play the way I'll play and for them to give me an extension."
Now 33 and with the most NFL experience on the roster, Walker says people ask him how he stays in such shape at his age. Walker said he learned by watching former teammates like Larry Allen and Bryant Young and copying how they took care of themselves.
His approach? Be among the first players to arrive and the last to leave. Get all the treatment possible and eat right. Hit the cold tub and steam room. Three massages a week. Lastly, play football like the game that it is. Walker went to the ground to pull in a ball during the offseason program.
"It's a kid's game, and I feel like a kid every time I step on a field," Walker said.
Walker almost didn't make it to training camp this year. On Tuesday, his Lamborghini got caught underneath a tractor-trailer with Walker inside on a street in downtown Nashville. Walker thanked the person who flagged down the truck driver, alerting the driver to the car stuck to the semi.
"Thank you for stopping the guy because he was still going Authentic Tyquan Lewis Jersey ," Walker said. "He didn't see me at all."
Notes: LB Brian Orakpo did not practice Saturday. Vrabel said Orakpo knocked shoulders with TE Luke Stocker on Friday, something that wearing pads would've protected. ... Rookie LB Rashaan Evans limped off the practice field with a trainer, but Vrabel did not have an update on his status.
Bengals owner Mike Brown says President Donald Trump’s numerous tweets attacking NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem have prolonged the issue, which he sees as one of the league’s biggest distractions.Brown noted at the team’s annual preseason luncheon Tuesday that the NFL and the players’ union are trying to develop an anthem policy that will hopefully please not only owners and players, but fans and the president, too. He said the president’s tweets have worked against finding a resolution to the issue.
”I think that worked against us,” Brown said. ”I think it stirred the pot, it got people looking at it unfavorably, and he has worked that issue for, I suppose, political reasons. It is what it is. It’s beyond my pay grade.”
Trump has attacked the NFL and players who protested social injustice by kneeling during the ”Star Spangled Banner.” The league adopted a policy in May that would fine clubs if their players protest on the field Avonte Maddox Jersey Eagles , but gave them the option to stay in the locker room during the anthem.
The issue flared again last week when the Miami Dolphins developed a policy that would leave players subject to suspensions, prompting the NFL to try to find a solution with the players’ union. Trump tweeted again that players should be suspended for kneeling, and he challenged Commissioner Roger Goodell to make a stand.
Brown said he’s seen Trump only once in person. They were in the same courtroom in the 1980s when Trump – then owner of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals – sued the NFL.
”Unlike some of the (NFL) owners you read about in the newspaper, I have never met Donald Trump,” Brown said.
Brown said he considered implementing an anthem policy for the Bengals before the league and the union decided to try for a joint resolution last week.
”Yes, I have thoughts on it,” Brown said. ”Yes, we had ways of handling it. I’m not so sure that wasn’t pretty good, at least compared to others. But that’s as much as I’m going to say about this, and let’s get on to something else.”
Brown’s team also is involved in a grievance filed on behalf of free agent safety Eric Reid, who met with the Bengals but wasn’t offered a contract. Brown reportedly asked Reid during their visit whether he would continue to kneel during the anthem.
The grievance claims that Reid wasn’t signed by any team because of his anthem protests. Brown said he was scheduled to meet with the team’s lawyers on Wednesday to discuss the case. He was surprised it quickly became an issue.
”It was a quick-forming thunderhead http://www.49ersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-kentavius-street-jersey ,” Brown said. ”I didn’t expect it.”
Brown is disappointed that the debate over anthem protests has lingered into another season.
”It should never have developed into the issue it has,” he said. ”Yes, it bothers me that we sit here today talking about the anthem issue.”
The Bengals open camp this week coming off a second straight losing season. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 1990 season, the sixth-longest streak of postseason futility in NFL history. Brown chose to bring back coach Marvin Lewis for a 16th season even though he has an NFL-record 0-7 in the playoffs.
Brown said he’s concerned not only about his team’s challenges but also the challenges that the NFL faces with the focus on concussions and pregame protests.
”We have distractions,” Brown said. ”We have to get beyond them. We have to get beyond the anthem issue. We have to get beyond the concussion issue. There are other things. We’re about football. That’s what fans want. And this other stuff turns off everybody. We have to get away from it somehow, and it’s a challenge for us to do that.”
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